Audi Sport’s Miguel Molina becomes a three-time winner in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters, as he led from lights-to-flag on the penultimate race of the 2016 season, ahead of both title contenders Marco Wittmann and Edoardo Mortara.
The Spaniard took the advantage going into Nordkurve after the lights went out, and comfortably extended his lead over the 27-lap race.
The 2016 champion has not yet been decided, thanks to a courageous drive from Mortara from eighth on the grid to the final step on the podium.
This means there are just 17 points between the two rivals, as Jamie Green’s title hopes were extinguished having finished in eighth place, after a fierce race-end battle with Augusto Farfus and Paul Di Resta.
Pole sitter António Félix da Costa settled for fourth, ahead of 2013 champion Mike Rockenfeller and a great points finish for René Rast, who completed the top six.
Timo Glock finished in seventh, having kept Mortara at bay until lap 15, where the Italian went up the inside of the DTM race winner at Spitzkerhe. Despite the briefest of clashes coming out of the hairpin, it released Mortara, alowing him to make his impressive charge.
Tom Blomqvist dropped down the order to ninth ahead of Paul Di Resta, whereas Farfus would end up going wide after the battle with Green and Di Resta, finishing in 11th place.
Adrien Tambay had one of the other outstanding drives of the day, as the Team Rosberg driver was able to take advantage of several cars going wide in the early goings.
Starting 22nd on the grid following the penalties for both Lucas Auer and Martin Tomczyk, the Frenchman drove his way to a credible 12th, ahead of Bruno Spengler and Maxime Martin.
This included Gary Paffett and Timo Scheider, who both finished 19th and 16th respectively, whilst Nico Müller was just ahead of the two-time champion.
It was another difficult race for Mercedes, as the remaining cars from Stuttgart struggled the entire race, with Maximilian Götz leading the contingent in 17th, ahead of Auer, Paffett, Martin Tomczyk, Daniel Juncadella, Christian Vietoris and Robert Wickens.
Sweden’s Felix Rosenqvist was the only driver to retire from the race after nine laps, due to a steering issue with his C63 AMG.
The final free practice session of the 2016 DTM season starts at 1055 CEST (BST + 1) on Sunday morning (16th October), lasting for 30 minutes.
Race result
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME/GAP | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 17 | Miguel MOLINA |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt | Audi RS5 DTM | 27 | 43:02.346 | 1:34.544 | 2 |
| 2 | 11 | Marco WITTMANN |  |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 27 | 1.661 | 1:34.783 | 4 |
| 3 | 48 | Edoardo MORTARA |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 27 | 2.805 | 1:34.932 | 8 |
| 4 | 13 | António Félix da COSTA |  |
BMW Team Schnitzer | BMW M4 DTM | 27 | 4.87 | 1:34.500 | 1 |
| 5 | 99 | Mike ROCKENFELLER | |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 27 | 6.064 | 1:34.812 | 6 |
| 6 | 72 | René RAST | |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 27 | 7.992 | 1:34.909 | 11 |
| 7 | 16 | Timo GLOCK | |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 27 | 11.858 | 1:34.796 | 9 |
| 8 | 53 | Jamie GREEN |  |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 27 | 15.97 | 1:34.915 | 14 |
| 9 | 31 | Tom BLOMQVIST | |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 27 | 17.188 | 1:34.859 | 3 |
| 10 | 3 | Paul di RESTA | |
Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 27 | 19.048 | 1:35.094 | 12 |
| 11 | 18 | Augusto FARFUS |  |
BMW Team MTEK | BMW M4 DTM | 27 | 21.208 | 1:34.968 | 7 |
| 12 | 27 | Adrien TAMBAY |  |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 27 | 21.928 | 1:34.924 | 21 |
| 13 | 36 | Maxime MARTIN |  |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 27 | 22.471 | 1:34.872 | 5 |
| 14 | 7 | Bruno SPENGLER |  |
BMW Team MTEK | BMW M4 DTM | 27 | 23.233 | 1:35.131 | 19 |
| 15 | 51 | Nico MÜLLER |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt | Audi RS5 DTM | 27 | 23.808 | 1:35.107 | 10 |
| 16 | 10 | Timo SCHEIDER | |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 27 | 24.288 | 1:35.148 | 15 |
| 17 | 84 | Maximilian GÖTZ | |
Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 27 | 24.712 | 1:35.084 | 16 |
| 18 | 22 | Lucas AUER |  |
BWT Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 27 | 24.967 | 1:35.119 | 24 |
| 19 | 2 | Gary PAFFETT | |
EURONICS/FREE MEN’S WORLD Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 27 | 30.584 | 1:35.502 | 13 |
| 20 | 100 | Martin TOMCZYK | |
BMW Team Schnitzer | BMW M4 DTM | 27 | 35.904 | 1:34.954 | 23 |
| 21 | 12 | Daniel JUNCADELLA | |
SILBERPFEIL Energy/UBFS Invest Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 27 | 37.372 | 1:35.466 | 22 |
| 22 | 8 | Christian VIETORIS | |
BWT Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 27 | 43.593 | 1:34.885 | 17 |
| 23 | 6 | Robert WICKENS | |
SILBERPFEIL Energy/UBFS Invest Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 25 | 2 LAPS | 1:35.591 | 20 |
| R | 88 | Felix ROSENQVIST |  |
EURONICS/FREE MEN’S WORLD Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 9 | 18 LAPS | 1:35.182 | 18 |