Hockenheim.
With an overwhelming victory for Audi, the 2014 DTM season came to an
end. The brand from Ingolstadt had a clean sweep of the first three
places in the season finale at Hockenheim and secured the
manufacturers’ title in the most popular international touring car
series. Victory in the race went to Mattias Ekström, who concludes
the season as the runner-up in the drivers’ standings. “Winning
the race in front of such a great crowd is fantastic. After such an
eventful year, bowing out of the season with a success is a good
feeling. Over the year, we had many ups and downs. Today, once again,
it was hard, but fair. That is simply a part of the DTM,” the Swede
said after his second consecutive victory. Mike Rockenfeller and
Jamie Green rounded out the podium after finishing second and third
respectively. In total, 155,000 spectators attended the tenth race
weekend of the year.
In the
closing stages of the race, Paul Di Resta (Mercedes-Benz) and Marco
Wittmann had a thrilling duel for fourth place. Eventually, Di Resta
prevailed with his DTM Mercedes AMG C-Coupé and finished ahead of
the German. “Initially, I had a difficult start and lost some
positions as a result. I would have loved to catch Jamie Green for a
podium finish as well, but fourth place is quite good, too. Thanks to
my team members, who really have done an incredible job,” a happy
Di Resta said.
Marco
Wittmann had already secured himself the championship title in the
Lausitzring round. After a successful season, the German had a rather
patchy final race meeting. Fifth place for the BMW driver in the
season finale at Hockenheim was the result of a race with plenty of
progress for the BMW driver. After a disappointing qualifying, the
German only started 13th into the race. “I reckon I got the maximum
out of it. My starting grid position for this race wasn’t the best.
In the DTM, things are so close that it is difficult to make
progress. As a result, I can be all the more happy with my fifth
place,” the four times’ race winner looks back upon the season.
Timo
Scheider (Audi RS 5 DTM), Martin Tomczyk (BMW M4 DTM) und Robert
Wickens (DTM Mercedes AMG C-Coupé) finished in sixth, seventh and
eighth place respectively. Pole-sitter Miguel Molina crossed the
finish line in ninth position. Immediately after the start, the
Spaniard lost the lead to Mattias Ekström. In an attempt to claim
back first place, Molina locked up under braking and dropped back
significantly as a result. Pascal Wehrlein had even more bad luck:
the Mercedes-Benz driver was on course for a podium finish until his
tyre change. As race control judged his release after the pit stop to
be unsafe, the youngster was given a drive-through penalty, after
which all his hopes of scoring a top result were blown.
Dieter
Gass, head of DTM, Audi: “I am not only happy with this 1-2-3, but
especially with victory for Mattias Ekström. There was so much talk
about the young guns this year, and then this old hand comes up and
scores two wins in a row. We are very happy with the manufacturers’
title. However, as we are well aware that the drivers’ title get
some more public awareness, we definitely want that one back again
next year, too”.
Toto
Wolff, head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport: “Today, Audi has shown a
top team result, we didn’t have a chance against them. We could
have avoided the penalty for Pascal Wehrlein. This mistake happened
to us in the heat of the moment. Even though we weren’t able to win
a title this year, we still were able to give a hint of our potential
in 2014. With our three victories, we don’t have to be ashamed”.
Jens
Marquardt, BMW Motorsport Director: “In qualifying yesterday, not
everything went perfectly. When starting from the midfield, you can’t
expect to be all the way up front, in spite of good performances by
our entire team in the race. Of course, I am really happy with the
outcome of the season. We have won the drivers’ and teams’
titles. In the last three years, we have won six out of nine titles.
That is not too bad for a DTM novice, which I think we still are”.
Photos: DTM
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