DTM: Witmann stripped off from first season's win, winner is Rocky

Defending DTM champion Marco Wittmann was stripped off from his first season’s win in 12th race of the 2017 season today at Circuit Park Zandvoort. He finished first ahead of two Audi drivers Mike Rockenfeller and Loic Duval, but the post-race disqualification amended the final results, so Rockenfeller was awarded with a victory. Organisers were unable to extract the required fuel sample from Wittmann’s BMW during post-race inspection and he has been excluded from the results.

Marco Wittman started from the front row in the #11 BMW M4 DTM alongside teammate Augusto Farfus. Wittmann had better start and he took the lead while Frafus was among several drivers who pitted on the opening lap. Wittmann made his obligatory pit stop on lap 13 and returned to the lead on lap 26 when all drivers visited pit lane area. Until the end of the race he managed to hold off Rockenfeller, crossing the finish line with 0.8sec gap.

Loic Duval started from P13 and made the late pit stop on lap 26. Thanks to such a strategy he progressed to P3 for his season-best result.

Mattias Ekström is the championship leader again

Ekström is back on the top of the championship order

Championship leader Rene Rast retired on lap 10 with damaged car following a contact with Maro Engel’s Mercedes. Misfortune of one Audi driver handed the championship lead back to another Audi driver. Mattias Ekstrom finished in the fourth place, being promoted to P3 after the race. He scored fifteen points, which put him back on the top of the championship standings, fourteen points ahead of Rast.

Ekström had tyre pressure problems during the last four laps but Audi teammate Nico Müller was defending his back, preventing attacks from Gary Paffett‘s Mercedes. Maxime Martin (BMW), Timo Glock (BMW), Augusto Farfus (BMW) and Jamie Green (Audi) completed the top 10.

Check the full results of DTM races at Zandvoort

Photos: dtm.com,