Before DTM is back in action, this weekend at the Lausitzring, several drivers usually racing for the three DTM works teams were active in other events. Mattias Ekström (Audi) added another chapter to his WRC story and Maro Engel (Mercedes-AMG) contested the Formula E race in his hometown Monaco. Meanwhile, Maxime Martin, Bruno Spengler (both BMW) and Edoardo Mortara (Mercedes-AMG) all contested the second round of the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup at Silverstone in GT3 vehicles.
At Silverstone’s 5.901-kilometre circuit, Martin and his team-mates Alexander Sims and Philipp Eng delivered in fantastic style. From their 31st position on the grid, the trio gained position by position to finish seventh, with their Rowe Racing BMW M6 GT3. The win was secured by Lamborghini. Incidentally, the gap between the top three amounted at the end of the three-hour race, to just 3.072 seconds. Meanwhile, Spengler had bad luck, in his Blancpain GT Series debut in the second Rowe Racing car. The DTM driver and his team-mates, Markus Paltalla and Jesse Krohn, had to pit as early as on lap two and finished 41st, in the end.
At the same time, Edoardo Mortara experienced a far better weekend. Together with Raffaele Marciello and Michael Meadows he took the Mercedes-AMG GT3 of customer team AKKA ASP to third place. “We were competitive throughout the weekend,” said Mortara. “That’s a performance we can build on in the coming races.”
Despite a minor set-back in the fourth round of the World Rallycross Championship, WRX, Mattias Ekström successfully defended his championship lead with Team EKS. In Mettet, Belgium, in a final solely contested by Scandinavians, he had to settle for finishing fourth. “I tried as hard as I could but from row three, overtaking is virtually impossible, here,” explained the Swede. With a win in Belgium Ekström would have been the first WRX driver ever to have won four consecutive races. But the Audi driver revealed: “I don’t care for records. I still am the championship leader and that’s what counts.”
Meanwhile, Maro Engel (Mercedes-AMG) finished fifth in the Formula E race in Monaco, the fifth round of the season and the home event for his Team Venturi, thus securing the best result in his Formula E career to date. Meanwhile, it was the fourth race win in the season for Sebastien Buemi.
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