Mücke Motorsport’s Lucas Auer was calm and collected in taking the first win by an Austrian driver in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM) at the Lausitzring this afternoon, as Robert Wickens leaves the Brandenburg region as the new points leader.
The Austrian streaked away from pole position, and remained unchallenged throughout the 46-lap race, despite the best efforts of Mattias Ekström to use a late pit-stop strategy to steal the youngster’s glory.
Ekström finished behind Auer by 3.763 seconds, as Wickens would have to settle for third. The Canadian would come under fire later on from Jamie Green, but kept the Brit at bay until the chequered flag for the final podium place.
Gary Paffett had a lot more luck this time around, as the Brit’s qualifying efforts saw him rewarded with a well-earned points finish in fifth, ahead of Marco Wittmann.
It also saw a very entertaining battle between Green and Paffett in the latter third of the race, but with newer tyres, the Team Rosberg driver was able to pass the 2005 champion into turn one relatively easily on lap 32.
After being handed a five-place grid penalty after blocking Ekström during qualifying, Christian Vietoris had to stay put in seventh, whilst Nico Müller, who tried the same tactic as his Audi stablemate, ended up finishing eighth.
Bruno Spengler and Timo Glock completed the top ten, which has helped BMW keep their advantage over Audi Sport in the constructors’ title race to 30 points.
Race one winner Miguel Molina was given a drive-through penalty on lap eight, as the Spaniard was trying to get past Augusto Farfus into turn one, which saw the Brazilian’s BMW almost leave the tarmac and kiss the inside wall.
The Brazilian would be one of four retirements during the race, as Farfus limped his BMW back to the pit box to retire the very next lap.
Maximilian Götz and Daniel Juncadella would also retire on lap 34, with Slow Zone 2 being deployed to recover the Spaniard’s stricken car on the approach to turn 8. Paul Di Resta retired just five laps from the end, which saw a conclusion to a difficult weekend for the Scot.
Mike Rockenfeller finished way down the order in 17th, after the 2013 champion was penalized for jumping the start from fifth place. Maxime Martin’s run of consecutive points finishes came to an end after a testing time for BMW, as the Belgian finished 13th, ahead of António Félix da Costa.
The race for the DTM title continues at the Norisring in three weeks’ time, as the “Franconian Monaco, “ greets the teams, drivers and the fans along the banks of the Dutzendteich, with just three points separating Wickens and Wittmann.
Race result
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME/GAP | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 22 | Lucas AUER |  |
BWT Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 46 | 1:02:11.261 | 1:17.952 | 1 |
| 2 | 5 | Mattias EKSTRÖM |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 46 | 3.763 | 1:17.919 | 9 |
| 3 | 6 | Robert WICKENS |  |
SILBERPFEIL Energy/UBFS Invest Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 46 | 6.386 | 1:17.928 | 3 |
| 4 | 53 | Jamie GREEN |  |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 46 | 6.770 | 1:17.840 | 6 |
| 5 | 2 | Gary PAFFETT | |
EURONICS/FREE MEN’S WORLD Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 46 | 12.292 | 1:18.063 | 5 |
| 6 | 11 | Marco WITTMANN |  |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 46 | 16.839 | 1:18.130 | 8 |
| 7 | 8 | Christian VIETORIS | |
BWT Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 46 | 17.355 | 1:18.154 | 7 |
| 8 | 51 | Nico MÜLLER |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt | Audi RS5 DTM | 46 | 18.099 | 1:18.213 | 15 |
| 9 | 7 | Bruno SPENGLER | |
BMW Team MTEK | BMW M4 DTM | 46 | 21.872 | 1:18.324 | 13 |
| 10 | 16 | Timo GLOCK | |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 46 | 24.865 | 1:18.338 | 2 |
| 11 | 31 | Tom BLOMQVIST | |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 46 | 34.033 | 1:18.183 | 10 |
| 12 | 48 | Edoardo MORTARA |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 46 | 34.173 | 1:18.155 | 22 |
| 13 | 36 | Maxime MARTIN |  |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 46 | 36.394 | 1:18.213 | 12 |
| 14 | 13 | António Félix da COSTA |  |
BMW Team Schnitzer | BMW M4 DTM | 46 | 36.827 | 1:18.296 | 17 |
| 15 | 34 | Esteban OCON |  |
EURONICS/FREE MEN’S WORLD Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 46 | 41.508 | 1:18.495 | 16 |
| 16 | 10 | Timo SCHEIDER | |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 46 | 42.387 | 1:18.139 | 23 |
| 17 | 99 | Mike ROCKENFELLER | |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 46 | 45.110 | 1:18.138 | 4 |
| 18 | 100 | Martin TOMCZYK | |
BMW Team Schnitzer | BMW M4 DTM | 46 | 51.198 | 1:18.542 | 24 |
| 19 | 17 | Miguel MOLINA |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt | Audi RS5 DTM | 46 | 1:04.337 | 1:18.500 | 14 |
| 20 | 27 | Adrien TAMBAY | |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 46 | 1:14.175 | 1:18.824 | 20 |
| 21 | 3 | Paul di RESTA | |
Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 41 | 5 LAPS | 1:18.075 | 21 |
| R | 12 | Daniel JUNCADELLA | |
SILBERPFEIL Energy/UBFS Invest Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 33 | 13 LAPS | 1:18.399 | 18 |
| R | 84 | Maximilian GÖTZ | |
Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 30 | 16 LAPS | 1:18.177 | 11 |
| R | 18 | Augusto FARFUS |  |
BMW Team MTEK | BMW M4 DTM | 8 | 38 LAPS | 1:19.294 | 19 |