Moscow DTM: Wickens dominates wet race after passing Paffett
Mercedes driver Robert Wickens eased to Saturday race victory at Moscow Raceway after getting ahead of poleman Gary Paffett on the first green-flag lap.
Photo by: Alexander Trienitz
The Canadian's triumph sees him join Edoardo Mortara as a repeat race winner in 2016 - and, with points leader Marco Wittmann failing to score, Wickens now leads the DTM standings.
Intermittent showers continued to dictate weekend proceedings after the wet-dry Saturday qualifying session - and, come the start of Race 1, the track was absolutely drenched.
The weather conditions meant the race started under the safety car, and the field lapped the 3.9km track three times before the action kicked off.
Poleman Paffett led the field into Turn 1, but Wickens was close behind already. And when Paffett went wide at Turn 3 - seemingly as part of Mercedes' championship strategy - the Canadian stormed past.
From that point on, Wickens would not have to look back, establishing a gap of 2.7s over his British stablemate during the first green flag lap - and increasing it to 4.1s the next time around.
Shortly thereafter, Paffett gave up ground, allowing Paul di Resta through into second, with Wickens ending up a staggering 9.1s up the road.
His victory now in very little doubt, Wickens briefly took the gap to 12 seconds and eventually took the chequered flag 10.9s ahead of di Resta.
Paffett kept up with the Scotsman much of the distance, bringing it home to complete a Mercedes podium lockout.
Maximilian Gotz helped Mercedes convert a 1-2-3-4 in qualifying into the same result in the race, holding off the lead Audi of Mattias Ekstrom in the final laps.
Audi's main title contenders Edoardo Mortara and Jamie Green were waved past by Timo Scheider for P7 and P8, before Green managed an unlikely overtake on Mortara. The Briton soon caught up to Maxime Martin in P6, but could not get pat the Belgian.
Behind Mortara and Scheider, debutant Felix Rosenqvist secured one point in 10th, as all 24 drivers took the chequered flag.
With Wittmann only managing to make up one place from his P20 starting spot, the 2014 champion has surrendered the standings lead to Wickens, who is now three points ahead - with Green just one further point behind.
Race results
Pos. | # | Driver | Car | Time/Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 6 | Robert Wickens | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 42'29.196 |
2 | 3 | Paul di Resta | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 10.955 |
3 | 2 | Gary Paffett | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 12.293 |
4 | 84 | Maximilian Götz | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 25.270 |
5 | 5 | Mattias Ekström | Audi RS5 DTM | 25.874 |
6 | 36 | Maxime Martin | BMW M4 DTM | 27.243 |
7 | 53 | Jamie Green | Audi RS5 DTM | 27.752 |
8 | 48 | Edoardo Mortara | Audi RS5 DTM | 30.108 |
9 | 10 | Timo Scheider | Audi RS5 DTM | 31.671 |
10 | 88 | Felix Rosenqvist | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 32.848 |
11 | 16 | Timo Glock | BMW M4 DTM | 35.243 |
12 | 27 | Adrien Tambay | Audi RS5 DTM | 36.197 |
13 | 51 | Nico Müller | Audi RS5 DTM | 38.287 |
14 | 18 | Augusto Farfus | BMW M4 DTM | 42.822 |
15 | 7 | Bruno Spengler | BMW M4 DTM | 44.030 |
16 | 99 | Mike Rockenfeller | Audi RS5 DTM | 44.781 |
17 | 17 | Miguel Molina | Audi RS5 DTM | 46.951 |
18 | 22 | Lucas Auer | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 49.944 |
19 | 11 | Marco Wittmann | BMW M4 DTM | 50.288 |
20 | 13 | Antonio Felix da Costa | BMW M4 DTM | 51.313 |
21 | 100 | Martin Tomczyk | BMW M4 DTM | 59.926 |
22 | 31 | Tom Blomqvist | BMW M4 DTM | 1'02.697 |
23 | 8 | Christian Vietoris | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 1'07.259 |
24 | 12 | Daniel Juncadella | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 1'10.016 |
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