After taking pole position in this morning’s tumultuous qualifying session, Mercedes-AMG Motorsport’s Lucas Auer returned to the top step of the podium at the Nürburgring for the first time since Lausitzring earlier this year.
The start did not go well for either Auer or Marco Wittmann – who started in second place. The defending champion swiftly lost positions due to a slow getaway, which allowed Augusto Farfus to cut through the front row and take the lead from Auer, whose defence could not hinder the Brazilian from making a successful attempt at overtaking the Austrian youngster.
With the rain temporarily halting and a dry line building up during the halfway mark of the race, a majority of drivers made the decision to pit for slick tyres. This would later turn out to be a grave mistake, as another shower hit the track just a few minutes later.
Benefiting from being among the final few cars to make the mandatory pitstop, Paul di Resta took the lead with ten minutes to go in the race, but gave up the position on the last corner to Lucas Auer who sat behind in second. The Austrian consequently took his fourth DTM career victory
Robert Wickens made it a Mercedes clean sweep of the podium, finishing third ahead of Moscow Racewar race two winner Maro Engel, with Audi Team Rosberg’s René Rast compe.
Rast’s teammate Jamie Green came home in sixth, followed by initial leader Farfus. Green also benefited from a late pit stop, having been at the back end of the field for a hefty majority of the race.
Ninth position went to Wittmann, whilst Gary Paffett had to settle for tenth place, as the Briton made up three places, having starting from 13th.
Sunday will see the 18 drivers tackle the Nürburgring once again, with qualifying starting at 12:00 and the final race of the weekend at 15:15 local time.
Race result
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 22 | Lucas AUER |  |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport BWT | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 33 | 54:12.443 | 1:35.041 | 1 |
| 2 | 3 | Paul DI RESTA |  |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport SILBERPFEIL Energy | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 33 | 0.794 | 1:34.911 | 5 |
| 3 | 6 | Robert WICKENS |  |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Mercedes me | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 33 | 1.568 | 1:35.312 | 3 |
| 4 | 63 | Maro ENGEL |  |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport SILBERPFEIL Energy | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 33 | 5.344 | 1:35.309 | 9 |
| 5 | 33 | René RAST | |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 33 | 9.758 | 1:36.037 | 7 |
| 6 | 53 | Jamie GREEN | |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 33 | 24.531 | 1:35.158 | 14 |
| 7 | 48 | Edoardo MORTARA |  |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport BWT | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 33 | 31.593 | 1:36.060 | 16 |
| 8 | 15 | Augusto FARFUS |  |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 33 | 49.335 | 1:35.425 | 4 |
| 9 | 11 | Marco WITTMANN | |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 33 | 56.886 | 1:32.748 | 2 |
| 10 | 2 | Gary PAFFETT | |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Mercedes me | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 33 | 59.072 | 1:32.809 | 13 |
| 11 | 51 | Nico MÜLLER |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 33 | 1:01.058 | 1:31.420 | 17 |
| 12 | 16 | Timo GLOCK | |
BMW Team RMR | BMW M4 DTM | 33 | 1:12.977 | 1:32.161 | 8 |
| 13 | 7 | Bruno SPENGLER | |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 33 | 1:27.191 | 1:33.236 | 15 |
| 14 | 99 | Mike ROCKENFELLER | |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 33 | 1:28.308 | 1:32.490 | 12 |
| 15 | 5 | Mattias EKSTRÖM |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 32 | + 1 LAP | 1:34.978 | 11 |
| 16 | 31 | Tom BLOMQVIST | |
BMW Team RMR | BMW M4 DTM | 32 | + 1 LAP | 1:31.823 | 6 |
| 17 | 36 | Maxime MARTIN |  |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 32 | + 1 LAP | 1:35.917 | 10 |
| 18 | 77 | Loïc DUVAL |  |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 32 | + 1 LAP | 1:33.865 | 18 |