Photo: DTM

Marco Wittmann fights to victory from seventh in the final Norisring race

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Marco Wittmann charged from seventh on the grid to win the final DTM race of the weekend at the Norisring, the home circuit of the BMW driver. Mercedes drivers Edoardo Mortara and Daniel Juncadella gained on Wittmann towards the end of the race but had to settle for second and third respectively.

“What a strategy, what a race! Winning my home race!” said a very happy Wittmann over his team radio as he crossed the finishing line.

Juncadella held pole position and claimed the lead at the start of the race as Mercedes colleague Lucas Auer made a strong start to claim second position.

Mortara, who won the race yesterday, pitted on lap one, a strategy that proved successful for the Italian who finished in second place.

Wittmann made two decisive passes after his pit stop, first passing Auer on the outside at turn one and making the move on Juncadella not long after as the Mercedes driver made a mistake, following a tough fight with the two going side-by-side.

Another fight between a BMW driver and a Mercedes driver was the one between former championship leader Timo Glock and current championship leader Gary Paffett. The two fought for many laps, with Paffett becoming increasingly frustrated by the defensive moves of Glock, shouting on his team radio that “these guys are ridiculous”.

Despite the best efforts of Paffett, he was not able to get past Glock, instead he lost two positions to BMW drivers Philipp Eng and Joel Eriksson as he ran wide in the chicane. Glock finished tenth while Paffett finished 13th.

There was one incident between Loic Duval and Augusto Farfus that saw the Audi driver spinning the BMW driver in Turn 1. The two finished in the last two positions with Farfus in 17th and Duval in 18th.

BMW driver Bruno Spengler fought his way to fourth position from sixth on the grid ahead of Mercedes drivers Auer and Paul di Resta.

Nico Müller was the top Audi driver in seventh position as manufacturer colleague Robin Frijns rounded off the top eight.

Paffett remains in the championship lead on 99 points with Mortara second on 93 points while BMW drivers Wittmann and Glock share third position on 92 points.

The DTM continues at Zandvoort in the Netherlands on July 13-15th.