 win in two years, as he dominated race 12 at Moscow Raceway){kind=link}
Mike Rockenfeller completed a dominant display at Moscow Raceway, as the 2013 Champion won race 12 of the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters series, taking his first win of the year.
The Team Phoenix driver fended off initial attacks from eventual runner-up, Bruno Spengler, Maxime Martin and Jamie Green, controlling the race from lights out until chequered flag.
Rockenfeller, who took his last DTM win two years ago at Moscow Raceway, took the chequered flag ahead of Bruno Spengler by 4.132 seconds.
Mattias Ekström was able to make his way back to the top of the drivers’ standing, as the Swede overtook Maxime Martin for the last step on the podium with just over seven minutes remaining.
His chief rival, Pascal Wehrlein, finished in 10th place, having fought hard against Edoardo Mortara for most of the race. The 20-year-old was unable to progress past Nico Müller in the final stages, and is now 6 points behind Ekström in the drivers’ s standings.
Martin and Green would round out the top five, with the Brit going off track at the final corner.
Gary Paffett was the highest placed Mercedes driver, finshing sixth, ahead of defending champion Marco Wittmann and title contender Mortara.
The action started hard and fast, with drivers going three wide into the technical sections of the 3.931-km track. Multiple battles started to develop up and down the field, with a seven-way fight for second place occurring at one point.
Team Schnitzer’s Martin Tomczyk was the only retirement of the race, after another difficult weekend for the 2012 champion, who pulled his M4 into the garage on lap 20.
Team RBM team mates, Augusto Farfus and Tom Blomqvist, would end up outside the top ten, but made it five BMW M4 DTMs in the top half of the field.
Daniel Juncadella finished in 13th, ahead of Audi’s Miguel Molina and Mercedes’ Paul Di Resta, who completed the top fifteen.
Adrien Tambay had another race to forget, as the Frenchman finished in 16th, ahead of Timo Glock. Maximillian Götz ended up 18th, leading Lucas Auer and Christian Vietoris to the finish line.
DTM débutant Antonio Giovinazzi recorded his second successive finish this weekend, as the Italian brought his AUTO TEST RS5 DTM home in 21st place, despite going off on the very first lap.
Robert Wickens finished ahead of BMW’s António Félix da Costa, who was the last classified finisher of the race.
The DTM now heads to Oschersleben in a fortnight’s time, for races 13 and 14 of the championship.
Race result
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME/GAP | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 99 | Mike ROCKENFELLER |  |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 41 | 1:02:14.818 | 1:29.870 | 1 |
| 2 | 7 | Bruno SPENGLER |  |
BMW Team MTEK | BMW M4 DTM | 41 | 4.132 | 1:30.007 | 2 |
| 3 | 5 | Mattias EKSTRÖM |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 41 | 9.204 | 1:29.892 | 5 |
| 4 | 36 | Maxime MARTIN |  |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 41 | 11.789 | 1:29.968 | 3 |
| 5 | 53 | Jamie GREEN |  |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 41 | 12.585 | 1:30.040 | 4 |
| 6 | 2 | Gary PAFFETT | |
EURONICS / BWT Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 41 | 14.393 | 1:30.203 | 7 |
| 7 | 1 | Marco WITTMANN | |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 41 | 16.593 | 1:30.086 | 10 |
| 8 | 48 | Edoardo MORTARA |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt | Audi RS5 DTM | 41 | 18.05 | 1:30.130 | 13 |
| 9 | 51 | Nico MÜLLER |  |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 41 | 18.548 | 1:30.049 | 6 |
| 10 | 94 | Pascal WEHRLEIN | |
gooix / Original-Teile Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 41 | 18.81 | 1:30.015 | 11 |
| 11 | 18 | Augusto FARFUS |  |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 41 | 24.207 | 1:30.253 | 9 |
| 12 | 31 | Tom BLOMQVIST | |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 41 | 24.939 | 1:30.374 | 8 |
| 13 | 12 | Daniel JUNCADELLA |  |
PETRONAS Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 41 | 25.237 | 1:30.392 | 12 |
| 14 | 17 | Miguel MOLINA | |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 41 | 25.686 | 1:30.300 | 18 |
| 15 | 3 | Paul di RESTA | |
SILBERPFEIL Energy Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 41 | 27.253 | 1:30.430 | 21 |
| 16 | 27 | Adrien TAMBAY |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt | Audi RS5 DTM | 41 | 32.423 | 1:30.319 | 19 |
| 17 | 16 | Timo GLOCK | |
BMW Team MTEK | BMW M4 DTM | 41 | 33.412 | 1:30.369 | 14 |
| 18 | 84 | Maximilian GÖTZ | |
PETRONAS Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 41 | 36.718 | 1:30.558 | 17 |
| 19 | 22 | Lucas AUER |  |
EURONICS / BWT Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 41 | 36.947 | 1:29.979 | 15 |
| 20 | 8 | Christian VIETORIS | |
gooix / Original-Teile Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 41 | 43.03 | 1:30.775 | 22 |
| 21 | 93 | Antonio GIOVINAZZI | |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 41 | 53.048 | 1:30.721 | 24 |
| 22 | 6 | Robert WICKENS | |
SILBERPFEIL Energy Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 41 | 55.033 | 1:30.664 | 16 |
| 23 | 13 | António Félix da COSTA |  |
BMW Team Schnitzer | BMW M4 DTM | 41 | 0.000869814814814815 | 1:30.963 | 20 |
| R | 77 | Martin TOMCZYK | |
BMW Team Schnitzer | BMW M4 DTM | 18 | 23 LAPS | 1:31.775 | 23 |