Axing performance weights has ruined DTM season

The 2017 DTM season has featured one of the closest title fights in the championship's history, with 10 drivers separated by 39 points heading into Saturday's first Red Bull Ring race.

Prior to the Austrian round, the series has decided to cut the controversial performance weights system from the regulations, and the opening race in Austria was dominated by Audi.

The marque swept the podium and beat the rest of the field by 21 seconds, leading Wittmann to say the rule change has put both BMW and Mercedes on the back foot.

"It's obvious. You can see what happens. Audi profits the most and us and Mercedes are on the back foot," said Wittmann, who finished fifth.

Following the Saturday race, Ekstrom has extended his points lead to 28 points with Jamie Green passing Lucas Auer and Wittmann to sit second in the standings.

Wittmann said the championship could be decided among Audi drivers.

"The exciting championship we had is now gone. Maybe it'll be an Audi championship in the end," he said. "I think, we could have gotten rid [of the performance weights] after the season.

"I support the decision in general, for the sake of the sport and the fans. But I do think the timing maybe wasn't ideal."

Auer: Difference to Audi "not so much"

Top Mercedes driver Auer did not echo Wittmann's complaints, saying it's not possible to calculate the effects the rule change brought.

"You cannot calculate it [the disadvantage of the current all-equal-weight situation]. Some tracks fit your car, some don't," he said.

"We'll have to see [for Hockenheim]. It's not so much, a few tenths here and there and we're right back in the mix."

Auer took eighth in the Saturday race, and is 31 points behind Ekstrom as the top non-Audi driver.

"Here, at Spielberg, we didn't manage to get it right. We didn't have the speed we needed to have in qualifying," he added. "In the race we wanted to collect some points which we managed to do.

"That's not enough and we know it, but there you go."