Mortara aggrieved by drive-through penalty

Audi Team Abt Sportsline's Edoardo Mortara feels his drive-through penalty given for 'failing to manage the slow zone' during the first Zandvoort DTM race was unjustified.

The Audi RS 5 driver was running in sixth when BMW's Augusto Farfus sailed off the circuit and into the barrier, which triggered a brief slow zone as the marshals retrieved the stricken car.

Mortara's tour through the pit-lane left the championship contender destined for a 17th place finish, which dropped the Italian from second in the standings to third.

Mortara felt he appropriately adhered to the slow zone protocol right to the letter of the law but was still given the penalty.

His Audi team mate Nico Muller also fell afoul within the same situation and also received a drive-through punishment.

"It's disappointing because we lost many points," Mortara told Crash.net. "It was a bad day for Audi because we weren't at our usual level compared to the others. I think a top-six result would have been more than enough today.

"They gave me a drive-through that is not correct. We can prove it with data and on-board footage. We have everything to prove they were wrong but unfortunately when you're in the race you can't discuss these penalties."

Mortara made the point of stating he approached the slow zone in the same manner as he has done for the entire race weekend.

"It wasn't a justified penalty. If you check the gaps before and after, I didn't gain anything. I did everything that they ask in that situation and gained no advantage from it," Mortara explained.

"I did nothing special compared to this morning and free-practice. We practice our slow zone entrance and exit over the weekend anyway."