Pascal Wehrlein claimed his first DTM crown last weekend, becoming the youngest DTM champion in history with a race to spare after finishing eighth in race one of the Hockenheim season finale.Wehrlein, who turned 21 the day after his title triumph, survived an opening lap collision with former champion Martin Tomczyk before making his way into the top ten after starting from 13th place.
The Mercedes Formula One reserve moved into eighth place in the closing stages of the race after a battle with Antonio Felix da Costa which saw the Portuguese also lose positions to Mattias Ekstrom and Maximilian Gotz.
Timo Scheider won the race ahead of Audi stablemate Jamie Green with BMW's Maxine Martin coming home in third.
Ninth place for Ekstrom, a retirement for Edoardo Morata as well as Wehrlein's points score mathematically eliminated his closest rivals from the title race ensuring that he became Mercedes' first DTM champion since Paul Di Resta triumphed in 2010.
Wehrlein's championship celebrations did cost him, however, with the youngster being slapped with a combined €5,500 fine after undoing his seatbelt before arriving in the pits and celebrating with his team before being weighed.
Title challengers Ekstrom and Morata did end the season on a strong note however, taking second and third place in race two. Jamie Green won the race to complete an Audi podium sweep.
Wehrlein's HWA AG also took the team's championship crown but it was BMW who scooped manufacturer's honours with Audi second and Mercedes at the bottom of the table.
Wehrlein remains linked with a Formula One drive with Mercedes customer Manor after testing with Mercedes and Force India over the last two seasons.
Image: DTM
No comments:
Post a Comment