Wittmann “tried to give” Aitken space in DTM clash at Zandvoort

Schubert BMW driver Marco Wittmann has discussed the penalty he received at the end of race two during DTM’s Zandvoort weekend. 

The two-time series champion finished behind team-mate Rene Rast despite a post-race five-second penalty, which left him just 0.005s ahead of third-placed Thomas Preining. 

Wittmann, who started third, was penalised for allegedly pushing Jack Aitken’s Ferrari wide at Turn 1 whilst completing an overtake during the opening lap. 

“That was actually the plan from the start,” said Wittmann about his jump to second place. “But you have plans and you never know if they’ll work out.

“I already realised that he [Aitken] would probably be able to brake later on the outside on the racing line.

“I tried to give him space. Of course, I was also aware that I had an advantage in the next corner because I was on the inside.”

But the penalty still made little difference to Wittmann, who was classified in the position he eventually crossed the line in.

However, there was a chance of him taking the lead as he challenged Rast in the closing stages of the one-hour race, but Zandvoort’s tight and twisty nature made any overtake difficult.

“Rene had a very strong pace in the first and second stint,” said Wittmann. “Then the tide turned a bit when I was suddenly able to attack in the final stint. But it wasn’t quite enough.”

“I think it’s rather difficult to lure both Rene and myself into making a mistake,” he added.

“We were racing at an extremely high level. You try, you see if you can maybe find a gap, you see if you have a little blunder that you might be able to capitalise on.”

So Wittmann was still left “really happy with second place” after finishing sixth in the opening one-hour race, which was won by Ayhancan Guven.

It leaves Wittmann sixth in the championship, 21 points off leader Lucas Auer with the Norisring up next on 5-6 July.