The opening race of the second Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters race weekend of the season at the Red Bull Ring saw Marco Wittmann take a lights-to-flag win at the 4.326-km circuit, with Tom Blomqvist and Edoardo Mortara completing the podium after 30 laps.
It was the Team RMG driver’s first win since race one at Zandvoort last year and the sixth of his DTM career so far, as BMW showed another dominant performance with six of their cars in the top ten.
Timo Glock took a well-deserved fourth place, ahead of Martin Tomczyk and Maxime Martin, whilst Paul Di Resta was the only Mercedes driver to make it into the top ten behind the Belgian.
Adrien Tambay took his first points of the year in eighth, having secured a double points finish in Spielberg last season, with Augusto Farfus and Nico Müller completing the top ten.
With the lights going out, Audi’s Mattias Ekström complained of a tyre issue, and was spun out by Maxime Martin going into turn one.
As the Swede fell to the back of the grid, Martin Tomcyzk had a lightning start, moving from ninth to fifth place, whilst Adrien Tambay dropped back to sixth place.
Tom Blomqvist and Edoardo Mortara would be in close pursuit of Wittmann after five laps, with the former saying that he was faster over the radio to his pit crew.
Daniel Juncadella retired on lap six, pulling his Mercedes off-track at Turn Four, due to a left front suspension issue, bringing out the yellow flags. Christian Vietoris drove his Mücke Motorsport-prepared Mercedes into the garage on the very same lap, becoming the second retiree, as a result of contact between the pair.
The incident between the Stuttgart stablemates was referred to the stewards for review after the race, along with Spengler being investigated for a possible overtake during the yellow flag zone earlier in the race.
António Félix da Costa overtook during the yellow flag zone, which resulted in a drive-through penalty being handed to the Portuguese driver on lap 10. The Team Schnitzer served the penalty two laps later, dropping him down to last place.
At the half way point, the top five drivers were split by 2.461 seconds, as Tomczyk was fast closing on Wittmann, Blomqvist, Mortara and Glock.
Both Mortara and Blomqvist had utilised their DRS allocation by lap 16, which brought Glock even closer to the Italian at several points on the lap.
Spengler forced his way past Maximilian Götz for 12th, with Molina attempting to pass shortly after. Götz was investigated for his robust defence against the Spaniard, who subsequently dropped down the order to 19th, but no further action was taken.
In the latter stages, the battle for the lead had already stabilised, as Wittmann, Blomqvist and Mortara pulled open a gap to both Glock and Tomczyk.
However, with all participants having used their DRS allocations early, the race was eventually decided on this main factor, showing that the drivers will have to be more strategic in the use of this aerodynamic aid over the course of the season.
Wittmann now moves up into third in the drivers’ standings as a result of a dominant and controlling drive in Styria, behind Di Resta, who leads on 43 points, just three ahead of Mortara.
The final free practice session of the weekend starts at 10:20 local time on Sunday (09:20 British Summer Time), and lasts for 30 minutes. Qualifying and Round 4 follow later in the day.
Race result
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME/GAP | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 11 | Marco WITTMANN |  |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 30 | LAP 30 | 1:23.557 | 1 |
| 2 | 31 | Tom BLOMQVIST |  |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 30 | 0.726 | 1:23.621 | 2 |
| 3 | 48 | Edoardo MORTARA |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 30 | 1.251 | 1:23.545 | 4 |
| 4 | 16 | Timo GLOCK | |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 30 | 5.566 | 1:23.682 | 5 |
| 5 | 100 | Martin TOMCZYK | |
BMW Team Schnitzer | BMW M4 DTM | 30 | 6.222 | 1:23.609 | 9 |
| 6 | 36 | Maxime MARTIN |  |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 30 | 10.712 | 1:23.782 | 6 |
| 7 | 3 | Paul di RESTA | |
Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 30 | 12.182 | 1:23.839 | 8 |
| 8 | 27 | Adrien TAMBAY |  |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 30 | 12.736 | 1:23.780 | 3 |
| 9 | 18 | Augusto FARFUS |  |
BMW Team MTEK | BMW M4 DTM | 30 | 15.146 | 1:23.782 | 11 |
| 10 | 51 | Nico MÜLLER |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt | Audi RS5 DTM | 30 | 15.750 | 1:23.826 | 15 |
| 11 | 6 | Robert WICKENS |  |
SILBERPFEIL Energy/UBFS Invest Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 30 | 16.505 | 1:23.884 | 13 |
| 12 | 99 | Mike ROCKENFELLER | |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 30 | 17.084 | 1:23.496 | 17 |
| 13 | 7 | Bruno SPENGLER | |
BMW Team MTEK | BMW M4 DTM | 30 | 18.730 | 1:23.886 | 14 |
| 14 | 53 | Jamie GREEN | |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 30 | 21.135 | 1:23.516 | 18 |
| 15 | 84 | Maximilian GÖTZ | |
Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 30 | 21.292 | 1:23.505 | 12 |
| 16 | 5 | Mattias EKSTRÖM |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 30 | 21.783 | 1:23.442 | 10 |
| 17 | 10 | Timo SCHEIDER | |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 30 | 22.534 | 1:23.933 | 19 |
| 18 | 2 | Gary PAFFETT | |
EURONICS/FREE MEN’S WORLD Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 30 | 24.050 | 1:23.730 | 23 |
| 19 | 17 | Miguel MOLINA |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt | Audi RS5 DTM | 30 | 24.743 | 1:23.873 | 21 |
| 20 | 34 | Esteban OCON | |
EURONICS/FREE MEN’S WORLD Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 30 | 25.610 | 1:23.774 | 22 |
| 21 | 22 | Lucas AUER |  |
BWT Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 30 | 26.430 | 1:23.730 | 20 |
| 22 | 13 | António Félix da COSTA |  |
BMW Team Schnitzer | BMW M4 DTM | 30 | 28.871 | 1:23.547 | 7 |
| R | 8 | Christian VIETORIS | |
BWT Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 5 | 25 LAPS | 1:25.264 | 24 |
| R | 12 | Daniel JUNCADELLA | |
SILBERPFEIL Energy/UBFS Invest Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 4 | 26 LAPS | 1:25.221 | 16 |