Robert Wickens became the eighth different winner in the 2016 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters championship, as the Mercedes driver comfortably led race nine of the season from lights out to chequered flag at Circuit Park Zandvoort.
The Canadian, who took pole position earlier in the day, made a great start from pole position ahead of Team RMG’s Marco Wittmann, and remained relatively untroubled, winning the race by 7.217 seconds from Wittmann, who now leads the drivers’ title fight by 10 points .
Mücke Motorsport’s Christian Vietoris joined Wickens and Wittmann on the podium, after a race that saw both Maximilian Götz and Adrien Tambay retire just after the start, with the former hit from behind by Martin Tomczyk on the run up into Tarzanbocht.
Tomczyk would receive a drive-through penalty four laps later, after the Safety Car returned to pit lane, whilst Wickens made good his escape, extending the distance behind himself and Wittmann.
Team MTEK’s Augusto Farfus would go straight into the wall on lap seven, as the Brazilian clipped the outside kerb on turn eight too heftily. Slow Zone 2 was shortly deployed afterwards, as the Brazilian’s car was being extracted, making him the third driver to retire.
Audi’s Edoardo Mortara and Nico Müller ended up serving drive-through penalties, for not respecting the Slow Zone, which saw both drivers finish 17th and 20th respectively.
Vietoris would be passed by Paffett on lap 23, going into turns four and five, before the pair swapped around on the last lap into Tarzanbocht, as the Brit had to settle for fourth place.
Team Rosberg’s Jamie Green had a very lonely race in fifth place, being the only Audi Sport driver to secure points, as António Félix da Costa battled a racey Mattias Ekström and Daniel Juncadella for sixth place, with the trio getting very close on the final couple of laps.
Rookie Esteban Ocon took his first set of points in his short DTM career so far, having initially dropped back from seventh on the grid, with Maxime Martin completing the top ten in his BMW M4.
Two-time champion Timo Scheider was one of many drivers that made up places on the 4.307-km track, as the Team Phoenix driver was 0.294 seconds behind Martin, with Lucas Auer making a pass on Bruno Spengler and Paul Di Resta on the last lap to take 12th place.
The final free practice session at Circuit Park Zandvoort starts at 09:20 CEST on Sunday morning, lasting for 30 minutes.
Race result
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME/GAP | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 6 | Robert WICKENS |  |
SILBERPFEIL Energy/UBFS Invest Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 25 | 41:55.441 | 1:32.841 | 1 |
| 2 | 11 | Marco WITTMANN |  |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 25 | 7.217 | 1:33.001 | 2 |
| 3 | 8 | Christian VIETORIS | |
BWT Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 25 | 8.987 | 1:33.027 | 3 |
| 4 | 2 | Gary PAFFETT |  |
EURONICS/FREE MEN’S WORLD Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 25 | 10.657 | 1:33.130 | 4 |
| 5 | 53 | Jamie GREEN | |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 25 | 12.626 | 1:33.287 | 5 |
| 6 | 13 | António Félix da COSTA |  |
BMW Team Schnitzer | BMW M4 DTM | 25 | 18.178 | 1:33.483 | 8 |
| 7 | 5 | Mattias EKSTRÖM |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 25 | 18.877 | 1:33.573 | 9 |
| 8 | 12 | Daniel JUNCADELLA |  |
SILBERPFEIL Energy/UBFS Invest Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 25 | 19.166 | 1:33.558 | 13 |
| 9 | 34 | Esteban OCON |  |
EURONICS/FREE MEN’S WORLD Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 25 | 19.838 | 1:33.710 | 7 |
| 10 | 36 | Maxime MARTIN |  |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 25 | 23.592 | 1:33.589 | 12 |
| 11 | 10 | Timo SCHEIDER | |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 25 | 23.886 | 1:33.765 | 18 |
| 12 | 22 | Lucas AUER |  |
BWT Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 25 | 28.082 | 1:33.560 | 20 |
| 13 | 7 | Bruno SPENGLER | |
BMW Team MTEK | BMW M4 DTM | 25 | 30.052 | 1:33.667 | 16 |
| 14 | 99 | Mike ROCKENFELLER | |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 25 | 30.424 | 1:33.650 | 17 |
| 15 | 3 | Paul di RESTA | |
Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 25 | 30.898 | 1:33.774 | 19 |
| 16 | 31 | Tom BLOMQVIST | |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 25 | 31.416 | 1:34.018 | 21 |
| 17 | 48 | Edoardo MORTARA |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 25 | 31.575 | 1:33.529 | 6 |
| 18 | 17 | Miguel MOLINA | |
Audi Sport Team Abt | Audi RS5 DTM | 25 | 32.288 | 1:34.190 | 23 |
| 19 | 100 | Martin TOMCZYK | |
BMW Team Schnitzer | BMW M4 DTM | 25 | 39.134 | 1:33.813 | 15 |
| 20 | 51 | Nico MÜLLER |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt | Audi RS5 DTM | 25 | 39.549 | 1:33.754 | 22 |
| 21 | 16 | Timo GLOCK | |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 25 | 45.004 | 1:33.761 | 10 |
| R | 18 | Augusto FARFUS |  |
BMW Team MTEK | BMW M4 DTM | 8 | 17 LAPS | 1:34.059 | 24 |
| R | 27 | Adrien TAMBAY | |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 0 | 25 LAPS | No time | 11 |
| R | 84 | Maximilian GÖTZ | |
Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 0 | 25 LAPS | No time | 14 |