Mercedes AMG Petronas reserve driver Pascal Wehrlein continued to strengthen his bid for a seat in Formula 1 next season by regaining the lead of the DTM championship at Oschersleben this weekend.
Wehrlein races for Mercedes in DTM, Germany’s leading touring car series that pits the marque up against rivals Audi and BMW.
In just his third season in the series, Wehrlein finds himself in contention for the championship, having won races at the Norisring and in Moscow so far this year.
On a weekend that was dominated by BMW, Wehrlein managed to emerge with the lead of the championship once again as title rival Matthias Ekstrom hit trouble at Oschersleben.
A pointless weekend for the Swede saw Wehrlein regain top spot in the standings by finishing fifth on both Saturday and Sunday, giving him a lead of 14-point lead with two rounds remaining.
The other title protagonists, Edoardo Mortara and Jamie Green, both had quiet weekends. Mortara retired from both races, whilst Green could score just four points on Sunday.
Saturday’s race was won by former F1 driver Timo Glock, who dominated proceedings from pole position. The German posted the fastest lap en route to his second DTM victory by 1.8 seconds from Bruno Spengler. Antonio Felix da Costa completed the podium in third place.
On Sunday, BMW dominated proceedings again as Tom Blomqvist claimed his maiden DTM win. The British rookie stepped up to the series from F3 at the end of last year, and became the tenth different winner in 14 races.
Wehrlein is known to have held talks with Force India about a seat in F1 for 2016, but with the team set to retain Sergio Perez alongside the already-confirmed Nico Hulkenberg, the German is unlikely to find a role there.
Instead, he may be able to secure a seat with Manor Marussia F1 Team. Earlier this week, Autosport reported that the British outfit was in talks with Mercedes over an engine deal for 2016, which would most probably pave the way for Wehrlein to race for the team.