DTM: Ekstrom wins as title rivals collide

Mattias Ekstrom took a convincing win in the second DTM race at the Hungaroring as championship contenders Edoardo Mortara and Marco Wittmann came to blows at the start.

Abt Sportsline driver Ekstrom led from the start and pulled clear of Adrien Tambay through the opening stint, resuming the lead after the pit stop phase before cruising to his first win in the series since August 2015. But the main talking point was a collision between the top two in the championship at the start, as Wittmann survived contact with Mortara to extend his points lead.

While Ekstrom got off the line well from second on the grid, teammate and polesitter Mortara spun his wheels and immediately found himself under pressure from Wittmann, who had started third.

Mortara squeezed the BMW man onto the grass as Wittmann tried to come around the outside, a move he managed to make stick. But with Jamie Green also starting well on Mortara's right-hand side, and Wittmann trying to get all four wheels back on the track, Mortara made contact with Wittmann's right-rear panel and spat the BMW M4 across his front and into Green, before Wittmann corrected his wild slide.

That allowed Mortara to briefly recover to second, with Ekstrom trying to slow to allow him back into the lead, but he soon dropped back through the field having picked up a puncture in the incident. The Saturday race winner dropped to 21st as a result and trundled around in that position before retiring three laps from the finish.

However, Mortara had managed to hold up the majority of the field as he limped back to the pits with his puncture, and that allowed Ekstrom and Tambay to escape at the front, well clear of Mercedes driver Dani Juncadella and the recovering Wittmann, who had a buffer of five BMWs behind him.

Tambay was able to get closer to Ekstrom through the pit stop phase having pitted earlier, but Ekstrom gradually eased clear to claim his first win of 2016 in his last DTM start of the year, as he will miss the Hockenheim finale to concentrate on his World Rallycross Championship bid.

Juncadella made the most of the opening lap chaos to claim third, having avoided the melee at the start to advance from 11th on the grid to a first podium in the DTM.

Wittmann crossed the line in fourth, having had to pass Antonio Felix da Costa on track before the finish after the Portuguese and fellow BMW driver had jumped him in the pits. That result extended Wittmann's championship lead to 26 points over Mortara ahead of the season finale at the Hockenheim.

Da Costa brought his BMW M4 fifth ahead of Tom Blomqvist and Timo Glock.

Timo Scheider finished eighth in his Team Phoenix Audi, having overcome Maxime Martin toward the finish.

RACE TWO RESULTS:

DRIVERS' STANDINGS

Originally on Autosport.com