Maxime Martin takes action-packed Nürburgring race win

BMW’s Maxime Martin took victory in the first Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM) race of the weekend at the Nürburgring, amidst a chaotic start to the 40-minute race, where a multiple-car incident brought out the red flag.

The Belgian took the lead at the very start, and controlled the race to the finish line, ahead of Audi Sport’s Edoardo Mortara. Points leader Pascal Wehrlein extending his advantage by taking the final spot on the podium.

Martin and Wehrlein came to blows going into turn one, as Wehrlein blasted past the outside of pole sitter Auer and tried his luck. Auer slipped back down the order, as both Bruno Spengler and Mortara passed the current points leader for second and third.

Spengler would end up retiring in lap 18, after suffering damage to the right front of his car, which resulted in a puncture, forcing the Canadian to pit.

Timo Scheider retired on lap 11, having tried to carry on after trying to avoid the accident between Green and Molina, having being tagged in the melée by the Brit.

Oschersleben race two winner Tom Blomqvist, who was also involved in the first lap incident, would end up retiring on lap 9. The Brit, who made contact with Molina in the first sector, was collected by a charging Gary Paffett, which saw Daniel Juncadella spin out as well.

After the Safety Car was deployed, the red flag was brought out shortly afterwards, leaving just thirty minutes of racing left. Paffett eventually finished a welcome fourth, with Maximillian Götz taking his best career finish in fifth place.

Pole sitter Auer would have to settle with sixth, ahead of defending champion Marco Wittmann, whose title defence looks to be pretty much over with three races left on the calendar.

Robert Wickens took eighth from BMW’s António Félix da Costa on the last lap, as title contender Mattias Ekström rounded out the top ten, having started in 17th place.

Wehrlein now leads the drivers’ standings on 155 points, 27 ahead of Mortara, who now is ahead of Esktröm by just a single point.

Qualifying for race two at the Nürburgring will start on Sunday at 1055 CEST (0955 BST), lasting for twenty minutes.

Race result

POS	NO	DRIVER	NAT	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME/GAP	BEST	GD
1	36	Maxime MARTIN		BMW Team RMG	BMW M4 DTM	25	25 LAPS	1:23.502	2
2	48	Edoardo MORTARA		Audi Sport Team Abt	Audi RS5 DTM	25	2.543	1:23.930	5
3	94	Pascal WEHRLEIN		gooix / Original-Teile Mercedes-AMG	Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM	25	2.955	1:23.805	3
4	2	Gary PAFFETT		EURONICS / BWT Mercedes-AMG	Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM	25	14.227	1:24.031	14
5	84	Maximilian GÖTZ		PETRONAS Mercedes-AMG	Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM	25	15.293	1:23.659	6
6	22	Lucas AUER		EURONICS / BWT Mercedes-AMG	Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM	25	16.75	1:23.857	1
7	1	Marco WITTMANN		BMW Team RMG	BMW M4 DTM	25	17.349	1:24.077	12
8	6	Robert WICKENS		SILBERPFEIL Energy Mercedes-AMG	Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM	25	20.62	1:23.973	13
9	13	António Félix da COSTA		BMW Team Schnitzer	BMW M4 DTM	25	22.189	1:24.122	20
10	5	Mattias EKSTRÖM		Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline	Audi RS5 DTM	25	23.857	1:24.209	17
11	99	Mike ROCKENFELLER		Audi Sport Team Phoenix	Audi RS5 DTM	25	24.398	1:23.858	8
12	3	Paul di RESTA		SILBERPFEIL Energy Mercedes-AMG	Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM	25	25.032	1:24.056	22
13	16	Timo GLOCK		BMW Team MTEK	BMW M4 DTM	25	25.383	1:24.241	18
14	27	Adrien TAMBAY		Audi Sport Team Abt	Audi RS5 DTM	25	25.756	1:23.875	23
15	8	Christian VIETORIS		gooix / Original-Teile Mercedes-AMG	Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM	25	26.413	1:24.007	21
16	51	Nico MÜLLER		Audi Sport Team Rosberg	Audi RS5 DTM	25	27.142	1:24.080	15
17	12	Daniel JUNCADELLA		PETRONAS Mercedes-AMG	Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM	25	27.724	1:24.032	9
18	18	Augusto FARFUS		BMW Team RBM	BMW M4 DTM	25	0.000698819444444445	1:23.566	16
R	7	Bruno SPENGLER		BMW Team MTEK	BMW M4 DTM	18	7 LAPS	1:24.107	4
R	10	Timo SCHEIDER		Audi Sport Team Phoenix	Audi RS5 DTM	11	14 LAPS	1:25.118	19
R	31	Tom BLOMQVIST		BMW Team RBM	BMW M4 DTM	9	16 LAPS	1:25.714	11
R	53	Jamie GREEN		Audi Sport Team Rosberg	Audi RS5 DTM	0	25 LAPS	N/A	7
R	17	Miguel MOLINA		Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline	Audi RS5 DTM	0	25 LAPS	N/A	10
R	77	Martin TOMCZYK		BMW Team Schnitzer	BMW M4 DTM	0	25 LAPS	N/A	24

Complete race results