Two out of three wins for Audi at DTM

This year’s DTM season has proved a strong one for Audi, seeing them take home two of the possible three titles. Winning DTM manufacturers’ champion for the third time and DTM teams’ champion for the fourth time, the brand have had one of their most successful runs yet.

The Audi car of choice was the RS 5 DTM, a strong pedigree that epitomises everything that Audi Sport stands for. These qualities are the same ones that form the commercial RS range, giving the public the chance to feel true sporting power even off the track. You can explore the RS range here at Jardine Motors Audi, and experience what true Audi power is.

It proved a bittersweet victory for some, however, as Audi campaigner Edoardo Mortara in the Castrol EDGE Audi RS 5 DTM missed out on the drivers’ title by a tiny four-point margin. This gap came when Mortara, in race nine of the season, was given a drive-through penalty due to an alleged violation of the slow-zone rules. Race control later admitted to discrepancies in the GPS system that same night, though it was too late to recover those vital points.

‘This was the bitterest victory I can remember,’ says Dieter Gass, Head of DTM at Audi Sport. ‘The ultimate disaster has occurred; we won the teams’ championship and the manufacturers’ championship, which is good. But in the drivers’ classification, we’re lacking fewer points than those that Edoardo Mortara unjustifiably lost at Zandvoort. This is a really bitter pill and hard to digest.’

Edoardo Mortara looks back on the narrow miss: ‘Obviously, we’re sad that exactly these points are now lacking to win the title, but I have to live with that. My team, my race engineer and my mechanics - all of them did a fantastic job this year and I felt very comfortable in my Audi RS 5 DTM. Winning the race was all I could do today. It was my fifth victory this year and I’m very proud of it.’

Unlike the unfortunate events in the drivers’ classification, it was a clear victory in the other two titles; Audi won the manufacturers’ classification with 700 points, while second-place BMW trailed behind with 647. These results show Audi in a very strong position, one that will carry on into the next season, where the goal will undoubtedly be to come home with all three titles secure.