After being the first driver to take four wins in this year’s Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters campaign at the Hungaroring, Edoardo Mortara’s determination and focus to close the gap on points leader Marco Wittmann paid off this afternoon.
From the moment the series returned to the Mogyoród-based circuit, just 20 kilometres outside the Hungarian capital, the Italian has been at the sharp end of the grid, whilst rival Wittmann had his fair share of struggles.
The 29-year-old now goes into the feature race day just 14 points behind the Team RMG driver, and was all smiles after taking his seventh DTM career win.
“What a Saturday!” said the Team Abt Sportsline driver, who has won at four different tracks, including the Nürburgring last time out.
“We were instantly fast this weekend. In free practice, everything was going perfectly and in qualifying, too.”
Mortara also broke the race lap record in the process, which was initially set by Audi Sport stable mate Nico Müller, bettering the efforts of Jamie Green, who finished in second.
“My start wasn’t brilliant but good enough to defend the lead. Afterwards, I was able to control my advantage and take it easy on the tires and brakes. My Audi RS 5 DTM was simply perfect today.”
“An awesome day – that’s what you’d have to call it,” explained Audi’s Head of DTM, Dieter Gass, as the Ingolstadt brand took a clean sweep of the top eight in both the second free practice and sprint race qualifying sessions.
“When you’re on the front of the grid with eight cars it’s an illusion to believe that you’re going to finish with all eight of them in front as well. But we did it with six of them and that’s fantastic. We’re back in the championship race. And I believe we delivered a good show to the fans and our colleagues from Győr.”
Audi now moves ahead of BMW in the constructors’ standings with 554 points, as the battle for all three titles intensifies.
Team Abt Sportsline takes the lead in the Team title standings, as Hans-Jürgen Abc’s outfit is 10 points ahead of Stefan Reinhold’s Team RMG, who were leading until the sprint race this afternoon.
With Mortara taking victory in the first race at the Hungaroring, it will now see a new champion crowned at the Hockenheim series finale for the second year in succession.