Five M4 DTM racers finished in the points on Saturday at the Nürburgring, while three finished in the points on Sunday. But at the end of the day Audi racer René Rast secured the DTM drivers’ title with one race weekend remaining in the season.
Bruno Spengler and Marco Wittmann finished second and third in Saturday’s race. The other three BMW racers finishing in the points were Sheldon van der Linde in seventh, Joel Eriksson in eighth, and Timo Glock in ninth. Wittmann’s third place finish kept him in contention for the drivers’ title going into Sunday’s race.
But Wittmann had to retire with an oil leak on Sunday in a race won by Audi’s Jamie Greene. Philipp Eng, Glock, and Spengler finished eighth, ninth, and tenth respectively. Eriksson finished eleventh and van der Linde finished sixteenth after receiving a drive-through penalty for contact with Glock on the second lap of the race. Rast was able to secure the drivers’ title with a third-place finish coupled with Wittmann’s retirement and points runner-up Nico Muller’s sixth place finish. Audi had clinched the manufacturers’ title three weeks earlier at the Lausitzring.
BMW motorsport director Jens Marquardt said, “First of all, congratulations to René Rast and Audi on winning the title here at the Nürburgring. René has performed very well throughout the season and deserves to be the champion. After a good team result yesterday, today’s race performance really was unsatisfactory – from the unnecessary collision between Sheldon and Timo to Marco’s retirement. Qualifying was really tight but we weren’t in the same position as on Saturday. Finishing eighth, ninth and tenth in the race is not enough. We must prepare perfectly for Hockenheim, as we want to round off the season with a good result.”
The final two races of the DTM season will be run on October 5–6 at the Hockenheimring.—Brian Morgan
[Photo of Philipp Eng’s car courtesy BMW Motorsport.]
