DTM: Da Costa hits out at 'dirty' Mortara move

Antonio Felix da Costa criticized Edoardo Mortara for a "really dirty move" that took both drivers out of podium contention during the second DTM race at the Red Bull Ring.

Da Costa appeared to have passed the Audi driver in their battle for a potential podium finish after tapping Mortara in the braking zone at the end of the back straight, before getting a better exit off Turn 3. But, under braking for the next left-hander, Mortara tagged the left rear of da Costa's BMW, sending the pair off into the gravel and out of fifth and sixth, respectively, with two cars ahead still to pit.

Mortara retired on the spot, while da Costa fell to 21st by the checkered flag.

"From my perspective I was clearly ahead, and it should have been my corner," said da Costa. "I used DRS and was faster. He should have held back."

The Portuguese later took to Twitter to further vent his frustration.

"[I] got pushed off the track today when running P3 in a really dirty move," he added. "[It's] easy for these guys to always blame someone else – a real man puts the hand up when [he] makes a mistake."

The dispute continued on Sunday evening, as the Audi Sport Twitter account posted a video of da Costa's nudge at Turn 3 with the caption 'Push, push...' accompanied by "#DTMClowns."

Da Costa replied to that tweet saying, "Here is the rest of your video," posting a clip of his and Mortara's Turn 4 altercation:

MORTARA DEFENDS MOVE

While the race was ongoing, Mortara suggested da Costa's initial push was unfair.

"It's always the same thing with him [da Costa]," he said. "The corner before he touched me, which was the reason why we were side by side; that was unfair.

"In the next corner, why should I lift? The guy on the inside, the rule is he gets the line. In four races that's four accidents for him."

Mortara later played those comments down, while it emerged he had been struggling with a suspension problem before the incident.

"The weekend has a rather bitter aftertaste," he said. "Unfortunately the car was getting difficult to drive. It wasn't easy to keep the others behind.

"There was a contact with da Costa and we both ended up in the gravel. It's not important anymore who was at fault, but in the end we both scored no points. It would certainly have been possible to prevent this."

Mortara remains second in the championship, three points behind leader Paul di Resta, while da Costa lies 16th with a sole seventh-place finish to his name.

Originally on Autosport.com