In spite of a strong vehicle performance Audi had to settle for fourth place in the first of the two races of the DTM’s round in Russia. The race was bitter particularly for Mattias Ekström, who in the heaviest car in the field had shown an impressive performance. From grid position six, he immediately advanced to fifth place in the Red Bull Audi RS 5 DTM. However, his attempt to overtake the BMW of Timo Glock, who was running in fourth place, on lap eleven ended in a spectacular collision between the two and in retirement of the previous leader of the standings.
The best Audi driver on Saturday was Jamie Green in the Hoffmann Group Audi RS 5 DTM of Audi Sport Team Rosberg. After five races without points, the Briton finished in fourth place. Up to the last lap, he was fighting a duel for second place with title defender Marco Wittmann in his BMW. But in the last turn, he lost third place to Bruno Spengler.
A strong performance was shown by Edoardo Mortara as well. Following a difficult qualifying session, the Italian in the Castrol EDGE Audi RS 5 DTM of Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline advanced from position twelve on the grid to sixth place and, as a result, scored important points in the battle for the title. In the overall standings, he is trailing Wehrlein by 13 points in position three.
With Nico Müller (Audi Financial Services Audi RS 5 DTM) in ninth place and Mike Rockenfeller (Schaeffler Audi RS 5 DTM) from Audi Sport Team Phoenix in position ten, two other Audi drivers finished in the points. Antonio Giovinazzi, on making his DTM debut at the wheel of the AUTO TEST Audi RS 5 DTM, kept clear of all tussles and finished the race in 19th place.
Adrien Tambay already damaged his Playboy Audi RS 5 DTM in the starting stage and retired eight laps before the end of the race. Miguel Molina’s race in the Teufel Audi RS 5 DTM even ended as early as in turn one. The Spaniard spun because he wanted to avoid a collision and was subsequently hit hard by Christian Vietoris.
