Marco Wittmann claimed third place in Saturday’s DTM Series race at the Moscow Raceway.
The Bavarian had qualified quickest but as a result of receiving his third reprimand at the Norisring had to take a five place grid penalty which dropped him down to sixth.
“From sixth on the grid, the race went well for me as a whole. It’s always nice to finish on the podium.”
Much of the race Wittmann battled against his team-mate Timo Glock who got ahead of him at the start. The Bavarian managed to jump Glock in the stops.
The BMW pair were trailing the Mercedes of Robert Wickens who had started in twelfth but was running in fifth prior to his pitstop.
“I got off to a good start, then I had a few good duels with Timo Glock and Robert Wickens. Robert overtook me temporarily and was able to build up a lead.”
Wittmann awaited his moment, and after a string of fastest laps found himself able to get the move done on Wickens and set about hunting down the leading duo.
“Towards the end of the race my pace improved continuously and I was able to manage the tyres well. This enabled me to get closer – and reclaim third place. Without the penalty on the starting grid I could have done even better, but it doesn’t matter. We can build on today’s result.”
It was a sixth place finish for Wittmann in Sunday’s race but could have been the win.
After opting to pit early on, Wittmann was the leader of those who had already stopped meaning he was in a position to theoretically be the race leader after stops.
However, Audi utilised Nico Muller by keeping him out to hold the pack up and allow team-mate Mattias Ekström to catch up.
This strategy cost Wittmann a number of places and the BMW-man was not happy.
“Unfortunately we hadn’t banked on Audi and Nico Müller’s tactic of leaving him out for an incredibly long stretch. At times he braked very early, even on the straights. He blocked us so that Mattias Ekström could catch up. That ruined our race and was very disappointing.”
