By Andrew van Leeuwen | Sunday, June 1st 2014, 13:07 GMT |
Marco Wittmann became the first two-time winner of the 2014 DTM season after cruising to an easy win for BMW at the Hungaroring.
While it was an action-packed race, none of the action involved the leader.
Wittmann started from pole on the option tyre, had more than 40 seconds up his sleeve over the best of the option-shod runner after the compulsory stops were completed, and ultimately claimed a comfortable and very straightforward 6.6s win over Audi's Miguel Molina.
"It was important to hold the gap [after the stops], and that's what happened," said Witmmann, who now leads the championship.
"It's a great result, our second win in the season - unbelievable."
Molina's race was similarly straightforward. Like Wittmann, he started on the option, and crucially managed to pass fellow option starters Antonio Felix da Costa and Timo Glock before the stops to grab second. From there, he could do enough to keep the second-stinters off his back, and claim a fine second.
"The car was good. P2 is a good result, after two difficult starts in the season," he said. "We deserve this podium."
Bruno Spengler was the best of the drivers who started on the harder rubber in third. The Canadian was already the best of the standard runners, which translated as 12th, before the stops.
Once on the softer rubber he barged his way through the field to claim third, helped somewhat in the latter stages when he faced little opposition from fellow BMW drivers da Costa and Glock.
Edoardo Mortara finished fourth after a race-long battle with Glock. The pair first made contact on lap 23, when Mortara successfully made a bump-and-run move on Glock through Turn 1.
But the battle raged on, the pair swapping paint numerous times right up until the last few laps. In the end, Mortara took the fourth spot, while Glock finished back in 19th after a last-lap clash with Nico Muller, who was trying to charge through on the softer tyres.
Adrien Tambay, Maxime Martin and Jamie Green finished fifth, sixth and seventh, the option-shod trio part of a messy closing stage of the race as they muscled past da Costa, who took his first DTM career points with eight.
Mattias Ekstrom came from nowhere on the soft tyre to grab ninth at the end, while Mike Rockenfeller took the last point on offer in 10th, having been in contention for fourth before the option runners showed up at the end.
Robert Wickens was the best-placed Mercedes, but despite an impressive drive, switching from option to standard, he could manage just 11th, one spot out of the points.
Still, he fared better than Paul di Resta (18th) and Gary Paffett, who retired on the first lap after copping a hit from Joey Hand.
Results - 41 laps: Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap 1. Marco Wittmann RMG BMW 1h08m35.291s 2. Miguel Molina Abt Audi +6.615s 3. Bruno Spengler Schnitzer BMW +21.842s 4. Edoardo Mortara Abt Audi +29.960s 5. Adrien Tambay Abt Audi +30.112s 6. Maxime Martin RMG BMW +30.357s 7. Jamie Green Rosberg Audi +34.403s 8. Antonio Felix da Costa MTEK BMW +34.560s 9. Mattias Ekstrom Abt Audi +34.826s 10. Mike Rockenfeller Phoenix Audi +36.017s 11. Robert Wickens HWA Mercedes +38.732s 12. Nico Muller Rosberg Audi +41.105s 13. Martin Tomczyk Schnitzer BMW +1m00.014s 14. Pascal Wehrlein HWA Mercedes +1m00.170s 15. Joey Hand RBM BMW +1m04.407s 16. Daniel Juncadella Mucke Mercedes +1m04.809s 17. Vitaly Petrov Mucke Mercedes +1m19.739s 18. Paul di Resta HWA Mercedes +1m25.635s 19. Timo Glock MTEK BMW +1m28.687s Retirements: Christian Vietoris HWA Mercedes 36 laps Augusto Farfus RBM BMW 31 laps Timo Scheider Phoenix Audi 10 laps Gary Paffett HWA Mercedes 1 lap