 win in five years, as Pascal Wehrlein becomes the youngest ever series champion.){kind=link}
The penultimate race of the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM) season saw Team Phoenix’s Timo Scheider take his first race win since Adria 2010, as Mercedes-AMG DTM’s Pascal Wehrlein took his maiden title at the Hockenheimring, the day before his 21st birthday.
Scheider overtook pole sitter Maxime Martin at the hairpin, before a collision between Miguel Molina and Gary Paffett threw debris over the track on lap 3, bringing out the Safety Car. This was one of many incidents that put several drivers out of the race.
It was the end of the title challenge for both Edoardo Mortara and Mattias Ekström, as both drivers suffered their own fair share of dramas during the race.
Mortara suffered a puncture, multiple collisions with the likes of Miguel Molina and Timo Glock, a drive-through penalty before retiring. Molina, who won race two at the Nurburgring
Ekström went backwards at the very start, losing multiple positions, as well as being spun out by Robert Wickens. The Swede would only be able to finish ninth, a place behind Wehrlein, who got past BMW’s António Félix da Costa on the last lap.
Jamie Green kept calm and also passed Maxime Martin during the race, overtaking him aggressively at the hairpin, during the latter stages. Martin would end up rounding out the podium, finishing 1.109 seconds ahead of the best Mercedes driver, Paul Di Resta.
Adrien Tambay was the first driver to retire from the race, following initial contact from behind by Bruno Spengler, who also retired on lap 20.
Spengler was handed a drive-through penalty for the incident, as did fellow retiree Robert Wickens. The Canadian, who complained of a front splitter issue, due to the chaos in the early goings, parked his Mercedes in the garage on lap 14.
Team RBM’s Augusto Farfus would end up retiring on Lap 4, having made unavoidable contact with Paffett after Blomqvist and the 2005 champion made contact early in proceedings.
Paffett also made contact with the right wall on the main straight, whilst drivers had to quickly avoid a slow moving Ekström.
2013 Champion Mike Rockenfeller was fifth, ahead of Marco Wittmann, with Britain’s Tom Blomqvist being the third BMW driver to make it into the top ten, taking seventh.
Maximillian Götz completed the top ten, after a fierce battle with da Costa, with Christian Vietoris fighting his way from last to finish 12th. Daniel Juncadella was also able to use his race pace to finish behind Vietoris in 13th, taking advantage of the multiple incidents that occurred.
Nico Müller would have a fifth successive non-points finish in 15th, followed by 2011 champion Martin Tomczyk and ART Grand Prix’s Lucas Auer, with Team MTEK’s Timo Glock as the last classified finisher.
With the drivers’ title now secured by its youngest ever winner, the team and manufacturer titles are still up for grabs. gooix/Original-Teile Mercedes-AMG is on 225 points, ahead of Team RMG, who now move into second with 198.
BMW still has the upper hand regarding the constructors’ title, as they currently have 583 points, whilst Audi Sport have overtaken Mercedes-AMG DTM for the runner-up spot, with just seven points separating the two brands.
Tomorrow could see plenty of fireworks, as it will be maximum attack by all drivers concerned, as the glory of being top manufacturer will see one brand heading into the winter with positive momentum.
The final warm-up session of the season starts on Sunday at 0905 CEST (0805 BST), ahead of the last day of action for the DTM in 2015.
Race result
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME/GAP | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 10 | Timo SCHEIDER |  |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 26 | 42:27.725 | 1:34.364 | 2 |
| 2 | 53 | Jamie GREEN |  |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 26 | 2.875 | 1:34.499 | 5 |
| 3 | 36 | Maxime MARTIN |  |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 26 | 3.756 | 1:34.582 | 1 |
| 4 | 3 | Paul di RESTA | |
SILBERPFEIL Energy Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 26 | 4.865 | 1:34.625 | 4 |
| 5 | 99 | Mike ROCKENFELLER | |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 26 | 11.708 | 1:34.634 | 6 |
| 6 | 1 | Marco WITTMANN | |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 26 | 15.768 | 1:34.648 | 16 |
| 7 | 31 | Tom BLOMQVIST | |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 26 | 16.972 | 1:34.868 | 8 |
| 8 | 94 | Pascal WEHRLEIN | |
gooix / Original-Teile Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 26 | 22.034 | 1:34.813 | 13 |
| 9 | 5 | Mattias EKSTRÖM |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 26 | 23.719 | 1:34.512 | 7 |
| 10 | 84 | Maximilian GÖTZ | |
PETRONAS Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 26 | 24.137 | 1:34.657 | 17 |
| 11 | 13 | António Félix da COSTA |  |
BMW Team Schnitzer | BMW M4 DTM | 26 | 25.405 | 1:34.831 | 11 |
| 12 | 8 | Christian VIETORIS | |
gooix / Original-Teile Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 26 | 25.597 | 1:35.138 | 24 |
| 13 | 12 | Daniel JUNCADELLA |  |
PETRONAS Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 26 | 26.78 | 1:34.860 | 23 |
| 14 | 17 | Miguel MOLINA | |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 26 | 31.566 | 1:34.926 | 3 |
| 15 | 51 | Nico MÜLLER |  |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 26 | 32.108 | 1:35.145 | 20 |
| 16 | 77 | Martin TOMCZYK | |
BMW Team Schnitzer | BMW M4 DTM | 26 | 41.299 | 1:35.678 | 22 |
| 17 | 22 | Lucas AUER |  |
EURONICS / BWT Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 26 | 43.679 | 1:35.890 | 10 |
| 18 | 16 | Timo GLOCK | |
BMW Team MTEK | BMW M4 DTM | 24 | 2 LAPS | 1:34.701 | 21 |
| 19 | 7 | Bruno SPENGLER |  |
BMW Team MTEK | BMW M4 DTM | 20 | 6 LAPS | 1:35.023 | 18 |
| R | 48 | Edoardo MORTARA |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt | Audi RS5 DTM | 17 | 9 LAPS | 1:35.625 | 9 |
| R | 6 | Robert WICKENS | |
SILBERPFEIL Energy Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 14 | 12 LAPS | 1:35.583 | 19 |
| R | 18 | Augusto FARFUS |  |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 4 | 22 LAPS | 1:37.253 | 14 |
| R | 2 | Gary PAFFETT | |
EURONICS / BWT Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 3 | 23 LAPS | 1:36.109 | 12 |
| R | 27 | Adrien TAMBAY |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt | Audi RS5 DTM | 1 | 25 LAPS | No time | 15 |