Audi driver Molina celebrates first DTM victory

 In his 67th DTM race, he succeeded: the Catalonian Miguel Molina celebrated his first DTM victory at the Nürburgring. For Audi, it marked the eighth success in the 16th race of the season.

69,000 spectators witnessed two turbulent DTM races in the Eifel with a particularly high level of mid-field action that Miguel Molina, however, hardly noticed on Sunday. After clinching pole position in commanding style in the morning in the Teufel Audi RS 5 DTM of Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline, he instantly pulled clear of the competition at the start in the afternoon race and ultimately crossed the finish line as the uncontested winner with a 7.5-econd advantage. 

“What a fantastic day,” Molina beamed following his victory. “I’ve been waiting so long for this moment and hope this was just the beginning. My RS 5 was simply perfect today. ‘Thank you’ to Audi and especially to my mechanics that did a fantastic job after my accident yesterday.”

The second-best Audi driver on Sunday was Mike Rockenfeller in the Schaeffler Audi RS 5 DTM of Audi Sport Team Phoenix in seventh place. The 2013 DTM Champion kept his first set of tires longer than most of the other drivers and following his pit stop was within striking distance of leader of the standings Pascal Wehrlein (Mercedes). Wehrlein, however, was backed by his brand colleague Maximilian Götz, so that Rockenfeller as a lone fighter had no chance against two Mercedes cars.

Mattias Ekström, in eleventh place, barely missed scoring points. From position 17 on the grid, the Swede in the Red Bull Audi RS 5 DTM advanced to eleventh place and was in the points for some of the time. However, a slow pit stop cost valuable time and subsequently deprived him of the opportunity to make up additional ground. In the final third of the race, Ekström was stuck behind the Mercedes of Daniel Juncadella. This followed a tenth place finish on Saturday which saw him bumped down to third in the DTM driver standings after Motara’s strong second place in the first race of the weekend.

Adrien Tambay in the Playboy Audi RS 5 DTM advanced from grid position 22 to twelfth place, two places ahead of his Saturday finish where he took fourteenth after battling from the last row following an accident in qualifying. Nico Müller (Audi Financial Services Audi RS 5 DTM) took position 16, the same spot as he had on Saturday’s race, and Jamie Green (Hoffmann Group Audi RS 5 DTM/both Audi Sport Team Rosberg) had to settle for position 17. After misfortune struck on the Saturday for Green, where his race was ended after a collision with BMW driver Tom Blomqvist, he secured a good starting base for the Sunday race by clinching position three in qualifying, but he stalled at the start, which caused him to hopelessly lose ground.

After second place the day before – and fifth podium of the season - Edoardo Mortara was forced to park his Castrol EDGE Audi RS 5 DTM early on Sunday following a collision with Timo Glock. For Timo Scheider (AUTO TEST Audi RS 5 DTM), the race ended in the gravel of turn one after being hit by Mercedes driver Robert Wickens.

Before the DTM finale at the Hockenheimring on October 17/18, Edoardo Mortara and Mattias Ekström with deficits of 37 and 38 points, respectively, still have a small mathematical chance of intercepting leader of the standings Pascal Wehrlein (Mercedes). The decision in the manufacturers’ classification will only be made at Hockenheim as well.

“I’m very happy for Miguel (Molina),” said Dieter Gass, Head of DTM at Audi Sport. “His first victory was simply overdue. Having clinched five pole positions, he repeatedly indicated his potential. Today, he was finally spared from suffering misfortune in a race. With a view towards the championship, of course, the way the race went was anything but optimal.” 

Kisiel dominates Sport TT Cup races again

The Eifel circuit also hosted the penultimate weekend of the one-make Audi Sport TT Cup. Jan Kisiel, the young driver from Warsaw, followed his double victory at Oscherleben by winning both races at the Nürburgring. His fourth victory in succession and fifth victory in total makes Kisiel the hottest candidate for the Championship title. In the guest entrants’ classification, Aditya Patel (IND) was the front runner in both classes.

On the tradition-steeped Eifel circuit, Kisiel was again not to be beaten. In round one of the weekend, the 21-year-old young talent started the race from position two, but on lap four took the lead that he would not relinquish again. Following an accident on lap eight, the race was stopped but fully classified, as more than 50 percent of the distance had been completed. In Sunday’s race, Kisiel started from the top spot and went on to clinch a lights-to-flag victory.

In the overall classification of the permanent entrants, after ten of twelve races this season, Jan Kisiel is the clear leader. With a score of 199 points, he has a 35-point advantage over Nicolaj Møller Madsen (DK, 164 points). In third place and with 163.5 points to his tally, Dennis Marschall is within striking distance. In the season finale at the Hockenheimring on October 17 and 18, the drivers can score a maximum of 50 points once more.