Edoardo Mortara takes third win of the season at the Nürburgring
Audi Sport driver Edoardo Mortara took an important win for his championship aspirations in Race 2 at the Nürburgring. The Italian made the most of a late pit stop strategy to climb to the front and achieve his third victory of the season.
At the start, Mercedes’s Lucas Auer got away well, defending the inside to keep first position ahead of the BMWs of Marco Wittmann and Bruno Spengler, while Edoardo Mortara was up to fourth.
Timo Glock and Paul Di Resta collided at Turn 1, with the Scot having damage in his C63 and forced to retire. The German would fall to the back of the pack, with the stewards investigating the incident after the race.
The additional performance weight on the Mercedes was a cause for concern for the manufacturer, with Auer having to defend continuously from Wittmann.
The top ten places remained stable until, on lap nine, Jamie Green, in sixth place, started closing the gap to Augusto Farfus, coming side-by-side with the Brazilian. As the two continued their spat, Gary Paffett overtook Tom Blomqvist for seventh position, joining the pair ahead of him.
The round of pit stops started on lap 14, with Farfus, Audi’s Miguel Molina, Robert Wickens and Blomqvist coming in together. The MTEK mechanics released the Brazilian just ahead of Wickens. The stewards found Farfus’ team guilty of an unsafe release, handing him a 10-second stop-and-go penalty.
Lap 17 saw the leaders come into the pits, with Auer managing to stay ahead of Wittmann. On the way out. Bruno Spengler got ahead of his fellow BMW driver, but was unable to catch the Austrian from Team Mücke.
Felix Rosenqvist was given a drive-through penalty for an unsafe release after colliding with Martin Tomczyk’s BMW in the pit lane. Further back in the pack, Audi’s Miguel Molina was in a fight with António Félix Da Costa and Maximilian Götz, running into the German’s inside and pushing the Portuguese into a spin.
Jamie Green then collided with Gary Paffett when exiting the pits, sending the Team ART driver into a spin at Turn 1. The Briton from Team Rosberg would get a drive-through penalty for the incident.
After the compulsory round of pit stops was finished, Lucas Auer led the race, followed by Mortara and Wittmann. Nico Müller overtook Gary Paffett for sixth position at Turn 1 on lap 33.
Edoardo Mortara initiated his attack on Lucas Auer, coming within DRS distance of the Austrian. The Audi driver would try to overtake at Turn 1 on the following lap, but Auer managed to defend his position. With 25kg more on board, Auer couldn’t resist the Italian much longer and, on lap 35, Mortara took the lead at Turn 1.
Mattias Ekström was closing into Bruno Spengler, tagging him to overtake at Turn 1 on lap 36, but the Swede was ordered to give the place back, but managed to overtake him again on the following lap, retaking fourth position. Ekström would continue moving forward, reaching Marco Wittmann to challenge for the final step of the podium.
At the chequered flag, Audi’s Edoardo Mortara took his third win of the season, followed by Mercedes’ Lucas Auer and BMW’s Marco Wittmann.
Mattias Ekström was fourth, followed by fellow Audi driver Nico Müller. BMW’s Bruno Spengler was sixth, followed by Gary Paffett, Tom Blomqvist, Daniel Juncadella and Miguel Molina completing the top ten.
Wittmann still leads the championship, while Mortara now moves up to second in the drivers’ standings, 33 points behind ahead of the next round of the championship in two weeks’ time in Hungary.
