Mattias Ekström took a stride towards the DTM title as he captured his first victory of the campaign during the opening race of the weekend at the Red Bull Ring.
In warm and sunny conditions at the Austrian circuit, Ekström started from third place and soon overhauled Nico Muller, as Jamie Green retained the lead from pole.
Green held a five-second advantage during the pit stop phase but Ekström ate into that advantage, and latched onto the back of his rival with a few minutes remaining.
A DRS-assisted Ekström adopted the inside line for Turn 3 and Green did not put up an aggressive defence against his Audi counterpart.
Ekström consequently reeled off the last couple of minutes to finally bag his first win of the year, extending his title advantage over new nearest rival Green to 28 points.
Muller completed a 1-2-3 for Audi, crossing the line separated by just six-tenths of a second, while Robert Wickens spearheaded the Mercedes/BMW challenge in fourth spot, some 20 seconds down on the lead trio.
Marco Wittmann’s chances of retaining his title receded as he took fifth, while Maxime Martin survived a challenge from René Rast to finish sixth, with his Audi rival spinning during their close-call.
Mike Rockenfeller was seventh, while Lucas Auer preserved his and Mercedes’ outside title prospects in eighth, as Edoardo Mortara and Timo Glock rounded out the top 10.
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