Mercedes’s Edoardo Mortara continued his good performance at the Norisring this weekend, as the Italian took his second win of the 2018 DTM season, ahead of stable mate Gary Paffett, who returned to the top of the drivers’ standings.
In what was a tense and close-fought battle for the race win after the mandatory pitstops, Mortara would do enough to keep the charging Briton at bay in the latter stages to win by 0.681 seconds at the checkered flag, having started on pole position.
Paffett had earlier emerged in the lead following his mandatory pit stop on lap 12, but on cold tyres he was powerless to defend from Mortara, who took the position back shortly afterwards, along with Marco Wittmann.
But two-time champion Wittmann had to settle for completing a very close podium, after Paffett got back past in the closing phase of the race. The BMW Motorsport driver then closed on the warring pair at the front within the last five minutes, but was unable to improve on third and had to settle for a welcome podium spot at his home race.
Mercedes’ Paul Di Resta was fourth, having got past the BMW of Philipp Eng with around ten minutes remaining, with the Scot finishing 5.223 seconds ahead of the Austrian.
Eng was also coming under increased pressure from the likes of Bruno Spengler and Lucas Auer, but would stay ahead, as the pair behind had run out of their DRS allocation for the race.
Daniel Juncadella took another points finish in eighth place, the Mercedes driver having also caught up to the three in front, with BMW duo Joel Eriksson and Timo Glock completing the top ten.
Jamie Green was the best of the Audi Sport contingent in eleventh, with none of the Ingolstadt drivers scoring any points once again.
The Briton finished ahead of Dutch racer Robin Frijns, who pitted on the penultimate lap of the race.
2015 champion Pascal Wehrlein, who was one of the last to make his mandatory pit stops on lap 42, could only make it up the order as far as 13th at the finish, crossing the line ahead of Augusto Farfus, whilst 2013 champion Mike Rockenfeller completed the top 15.
Jamie Green was the best of the Audi drivers in 11th in a points-less race that proved to be lacklustre for the Ingolstadt marque, who are based 80 km down the road from Nuremberg.
Defending champion René Rast would also struggle during the race, finishing 16th, ahead of Loïc Duval and Nico Müller, who completed the finishing order.
Final free practice for the DTM race weekend at the Norisring starts at 0830 local time (BST + 1 hour), lasting for 30 minutes.
Race result
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 48 | Edoardo MORTARA |  |
SILBERPFEIL Energy Mercedes-AMG Motorsport | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 68 | 56:12.918 | 48.392 | 1 |
| 2 | 2 | Gary PAFFETT |  |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport PETRONAS | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 68 | 0.681 | 48.428 | 4 |
| 3 | 11 | Marco WITTMANN |  |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 68 | 1.286 | 48.380 | 3 |
| 4 | 3 | Paul DI RESTA | |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport REMUS | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 68 | 8.550 | 48.571 | 5 |
| 5 | 25 | Philipp ENG |  |
BMW Team RMR | BMW M4 DTM | 68 | 13.773 | 48.385 | 2 |
| 6 | 7 | Bruno SPENGLER |  |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 68 | 14.169 | 48.379 | 9 |
| 7 | 22 | Lucas AUER | |
SILBERPFEIL Energy Mercedes-AMG Motorsport | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 68 | 14.874 | 48.413 | 7 |
| 8 | 23 | Daniel JUNCADELLA |  |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport REMUS | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 68 | 15.205 | 48.307 | 6 |
| 9 | 47 | Joel ERIKSSON |  |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 68 | 15.813 | 48.432 | 11 |
| 10 | 16 | Timo GLOCK | |
BMW Team RMR | BMW M4 DTM | 68 | 16.681 | 48.632 | 8 |
| 11 | 53 | Jamie GREEN | |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 68 | 23.330 | 48.643 | 13 |
| 12 | 4 | Robin FRIJNS |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 68 | 24.505 | 48.896 | 16 |
| 13 | 94 | Pascal WEHRLEIN | |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport PETRONAS | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 68 | 28.033 | 48.790 | 14 |
| 14 | 15 | Augusto FARFUS |  |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 68 | 30.382 | 48.764 | 12 |
| 15 | 99 | Mike ROCKENFELLER | |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 68 | 30.803 | 48.765 | 17 |
| 16 | 33 | René RAST | |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 68 | 31.632 | 48.704 | 18 |
| 17 | 28 | Loïc DUVAL |  |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 68 | 42.539 | 48.882 | 15 |
| 18 | 51 | Nico MÜLLER |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 67 | + 1 LAP | 48.530 | 10 |