The first race of the 2016 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters season at the famed Hockenheimring saw Audi Sport’s Eodoardo Mortara comfortably take victory around the 4.574-km circuit, 1.657 seconds ahead of Mercedes’ Robert Wickens, with pole-sitter, Team ABT’s Nico Müller, completing the top three.
Paul Di Resta and Christian Vietoris made it three C63 AMG DTMs in the top five, as the pair would make their way through from seventh and sixth respectively, as BMW had three of their cars take advantage of several accidents over the 40 minute plus 1 lap race.
Bruno Spengler finished sixth, ahead of António Félix da Costa and Maxime Martin, with Mattias Ekström and Miguel Molina completed the top ten.
The action-packed affair, run over 25 laps, saw great battles up and down the field, amidst a frantic and incident-filled return to racing after over six months.
Lucas Auer would be opt to start from the pit lane, following his off-track excursion in second free practice causing extensive damage to his C63 AMG DTM, which saw the Mücke Motorsport driver miss out on qualifying.
Track temperatures had been on the increase throughout the day, hitting nearly 50 degrees celsius when the red lights went out. Mortara left Müller and Wickens into the first corner, with Green going around the outside past the Mercedes.
Timo Scheider would be the first driver to retire, as the two-time champion suffered major front-end damage. BMW’s Augusto Farfus was spun round in the first half of the first lap, by rookie Esteban Ocon at the Spitzkerhe.
Ocon was one of seven further retirees apart from Scheider, as the Frenchman would retire on lap 3, as a result of the front end damage suffered after hitting Farfus.
Jamie Green was pushed wide into the gravel approaching Sachskurve on the first lap by Christian Vietoris, whilst Tom Blomqvist and Adrien Tambay came together on the final corner.
This was due to Daniel Juncadella making the slightest of contact with the Brit, with Tambay forced to retire with heavy damage to the right side of his Audi.
Jundacella was also involved in an incident with Timo Glock on the very next lap, as the duo collided at the Mobil 1 Kurve, which saw the first of two Slow Zone deployments during the race
Mike Rockenfeller would retire with broken right rear suspension on lap four, whilst Maximilian Götz would loose the rear end of his Mercedes, trying to overtake Green at Sachskurve just two laps later, bringing out the final Slow Zone caution of the day.
Auer, who had made his way from dead last up to 12th, would be forced to pit on Lap 17, as part of Paffett’s bumper was caught in his front air dam. But the Austrian decided to pull his car into the garage five laps, despite a valiant effort.
Green received a drive-through penalty for avoidable contact in the race, which saw the Brit drop all the way down to 17th, but he had to settle for 15th at the chequered flag.
Gary Paffett would be in the wars with Mattias Ekström, who tried a more than robust pass on the Brit, which saw the 2005 champion’s car damaged on the front bumper. The Brit finished just outside the points in 11th, 0.743 seconds behind Molina.
After a dramatic first day, the action gets back underway on Sunday morning, as the final free practice session of the weekend starts at 10:00 local time (09:00 British Summer Time).
Race result
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME/GAP | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 48 | Edoardo MORTARA |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt | Audi RS5 DTM | 25 | LAP 25 | 1:35.805 | 2 |
| 2 | 6 | Robert WICKENS |  |
SILBERPFEIL Energy Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 25 | 1.657 | 1:35.465 | 3 |
| 3 | 51 | Nico MÜLLER |  |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 25 | 4.454 | 1:35.591 | 1 |
| 4 | 3 | Paul di RESTA |  |
SILBERPFEIL Energy Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 25 | 8.818 | 1:35.487 | 7 |
| 5 | 8 | Christian VIETORIS |  |
gooix / Original-Teile Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 25 | 10.192 | 1:35.593 | 6 |
| 6 | 7 | Bruno SPENGLER | |
BMW Team MTEK | BMW M4 DTM | 25 | 20.097 | 1:35.822 | 13 |
| 7 | 13 | António Félix da COSTA |  |
BMW Team Schnitzer | BMW M4 DTM | 25 | 30.882 | 1:35.684 | 20 |
| 8 | 36 | Maxime MARTIN |  |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 25 | 41.36 | 1:36.624 | 21 |
| 9 | 5 | Mattias EKSTRÖM |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 25 | 46.455 | 1:37.055 | 9 |
| 10 | 17 | Miguel MOLINA |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 25 | 47.198 | 1:36.761 | 8 |
| 11 | 2 | Gary PAFFETT | |
EURONICS / BWT Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 25 | 52.832 | 1:36.779 | 11 |
| 12 | 77 | Martin TOMCZYK | |
BMW Team Schnitzer | BMW M4 DTM | 25 | 55.137 | 1:37.081 | 22 |
| 13 | 31 | Tom BLOMQVIST | |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 25 | 55.53 | 1:36.999 | 17 |
| 14 | 18 | Augusto FARFUS |  |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 25 | 1:08.466 | 1:37.698 | 15 |
| 15 | 53 | Jamie GREEN | |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 25 | 1:09.184 | 1:35.986 | 4 |
| 16 | 1 | Marco WITTMANN | |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 25 | 1:10.496 | 1:38.059 | 10 |
| 17 | 22 | Lucas AUER |  |
EURONICS / BWT Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 20 | 5 LAPS | 1:36.185 | 24 |
| R | 84 | Maximilian GÖTZ | |
PETRONAS Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 6 | 19 LAPS | 1:39.077 | 19 |
| R | 99 | Mike ROCKENFELLER | |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 4 | 21 LAPS | 1:36.547 | 5 |
| R | 34 | Esteban OCON |  |
PETRONAS Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 3 | 22 LAPS | 1:43.413 | 12 |
| R | 16 | Timo GLOCK | |
BMW Team MTEK | BMW M4 DTM | 2 | 23 LAPS | 1:38.305 | 16 |
| R | 12 | Daniel JUNCADELLA | |
PETRONAS Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 2 | 23 LAPS | 1:39.894 | 14 |
| R | 27 | Adrien TAMBAY | |
Audi Sport Team Abt | Audi RS5 DTM | 2 | 23 LAPS | N/A | 23 |
| R | 10 | Timo SCHEIDER | |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 1 | 24 LAPS | N/A | 18 |