Team Rosberg’s René Rast retook the points lead in this year’s Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters campaign, as the Audi Sport driver led from lights-to-flag to win the first race of the weekend at Moscow Raceway this afternoon.
Rast, who secured his second win of the season by 0.770 seconds, fended off the charge of Ingolstadt stablemate Mike Rockenfeller for the win, as the 2013 champion closed the gap in the latter stages of the race.
Defending champion Marco Wittmann would complete the podium, having overtaken Robert Wickens for the final spot on the rostrum with just seven and a half minutes remaining.
Timo Glock, who had clashes with both Mattias Ekström and Wittmann in the first third of the race, would round out the top five, despite being warned for his actions in both incidents.
Mercedes Team BWT’s Lucas Auer remains second overall in the standings, four points behind Rast, was able to move his way up the order to finish sixth, having started down in 14th.
Gary Paffett also made some headway during the 39-lap race, making it three from Stuttgart in the top seven, behind Auer. Ekström, who soldiered on after sustaining damage to the right rear of his Audi RS5 DTM after contact with Glock, narrowly missed out on seventh behind the 2005 champion by just 0.099 seconds at the finish line.
Jamie Green was the last of four Audi Sport drivers to make it into the top ten, finishing ninth, ahead of Mercedes’ Maro Engel, who completed the top ten, using a well-timed pit stop on lap 16 to secure his third points finish of the season.
Engel was running in second until his pit stop, having started from 18th and last on the grid.
Loic Duval finished in 11th place, just over half a second from Engel, ahead of Bruno Spengler, Paul Di Resta, Edoardo Mortara and Nico Muller, who completed the top 15.
Maxime Martin now drops to fourth in the standings, having been the last of the classified finishers in 16th, with both Tom Blomqvist and Augusto Farfus retiring on laps 15 and 35 respectively
The Brazilian dropped right to the back of the field after contact with Rockenfeller on the run down to the final turn on lap three, having suffered a right front puncture and damage to the right side of his BMW.
The final free practice session of the race weekend at Moscow Raceway gets underway at 1140 local time tomorrow, lasting for 30 minutes.
Race result
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 33 | René RAST |  |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 39 | 57:50.085 | 1:29.849 | 1 |
| 2 | 99 | Mike ROCKENFELLER | |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 39 | 0.770 | 1:29.755 | 2 |
| 3 | 11 | Marco WITTMANN | |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 39 | 3.899 | 1:29.745 | 6 |
| 4 | 6 | Robert WICKENS |  |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Mercedes me | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 39 | 6.098 | 1:29.573 | 11 |
| 5 | 16 | Timo GLOCK | |
BMW Team RMR | BMW M4 DTM | 39 | 9.498 | 1:29.706 | 4 |
| 6 | 22 | Lucas AUER |  |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport BWT | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 39 | 14.663 | 1:29.783 | 13 |
| 7 | 2 | Gary PAFFETT |  |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Mercedes me | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 39 | 17.696 | 1:29.920 | 9 |
| 8 | 5 | Mattias EKSTRÖM |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 39 | 17.795 | 1:29.884 | 5 |
| 9 | 53 | Jamie GREEN | |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 39 | 24.310 | 1:29.787 | 7 |
| 10 | 63 | Maro ENGEL | |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport SILBERPFEIL Energy | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 39 | 25.329 | 1:29.909 | 18 |
| 11 | 77 | Loïc DUVAL |  |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 39 | 25.876 | 1:30.071 | 15 |
| 12 | 7 | Bruno SPENGLER | |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 39 | 27.607 | 1:29.920 | 10 |
| 13 | 3 | Paul DI RESTA | |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport SILBERPFEIL Energy | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 39 | 29.384 | 1:30.055 | 16 |
| 14 | 48 | Edoardo MORTARA |  |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport BWT | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 39 | 29.359 | 1:30.481 | 17 |
| 15 | 51 | Nico MÜLLER |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 39 | 24.727 | 1:29.631 | 12 |
| 16 | 36 | Maxime MARTIN |  |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 39 | 30.201 | 1:29.717 | 14 |
| 17 | 15 | Augusto FARFUS |  |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 35 | 4 LAPS | 1:29.629 | 3 |
| R | 31 | Tom BLOMQVIST | |
BMW Team RMR | BMW M4 DTM | 15 | DNF | 1:30.651 | 8 |