Defendingꦜ DTM champion Mike Rockenfeller has accepted full responsibility for his part in a potentially championship damaging clash with Audi team mate Adrien Tambay at the Moscow Raceway.

The Audi-duo came💟 tog♕ether two-corners after the restart, which was triggered by the recovery of Timo Scheider's stricken RS5 on the pits straight.

The Phoenix-man was due to pit just one-lap later but locked his front tyres and helplessly sl𝄹id into Tambay's Abt-machine, putting the pair out on the spot.

Rockenfeller was looking odds on to leave Russia with a decent, if not maximum haul of points, as the race 💦looked to have tipped into his favour after the safety car came out and eradicated𒐪 BMW's Maxime Martin's healthy lead.

But the German's title defence now hangs in the bal💃ance 35-points off Marco Wittmann's lead after his first retirement in 14 DTM races.

"I can only say one thing🌞: that I'm in🐻credibly sorry for Adrien (Tambay), Audi and my Phoenix team," said Rockenfeller.

"It was clearly my mistake and not intentional. After the re-start, I just wa🤪nted to drive behind him, because a lap later I would have had to pit for a tire change anyhow.

"Maybe my front wheels weren't warm enough. In any event, I'm surprised that they locked and I slipped into the rear end of Adrien's car. Just slightly - b🌟ut that's enough to make somebody spin.

"To make things worse, we touched and the race was ove🥃r for both of us. I can only apologize to everybody involved in this."