Defending Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters champion René Rast came out on top after a tight battle with title rival Gary Paffett to win his fifth race in a row.
Rast headed home an Audi 1-2, as Robin Frijns utilised his fresher rubber to scythe his way through the field en route to second place, with BMW’s Timo Glock rounding out the podium.
2005 champion Gary Paffett struggled to ‘switch on’ his tyres after a late safety car and dropped from second to fourth.
With Di Resta coming home eighth, the result promotes Paffett into the lead of the championship by six points ahead of Di Resta, with winner Rast 15 points adrift going into the final race of the season tomorrow [14 October].
Polesitter Lucas Auer gave up the lead to fellow Mercedes racer Gary Paffett on the opening lap before the former was forced to retire with a stuck throttle.
As Paffett led the early stages, Rast battled up to second and closed in before attempting the undercut by stopping early on lap 14.
Paffett responded on the following lap and emerged ahead of his rival, and a tremendous battle ensued with the pair swapping positions multiple times before Rast eventually made a move stick on lap 25.
A safety car was then deployed to clear up the door of Augusto Farfus, which had flown off through the Parabolica curve and into the hairpin.
Rast made a dream restart while Paffett struggled for pace, eventually dropping to fourth behind Frijns and Glock.
Behind Paffett was the charging Audi trio Loïc Duval, Mike Rockenfeller and Nico Müller, with the Audi RS 5 DTM seemingly kinder on its tyres than the opposition and giving them an advantage late in the race.
Bruno Spengler and Edoardo Mortara rounded out the top ten, while Auer and Farfus were classed as retirements.
Marco Wittmann’s poor weekend continued as he was forced to pull off with grass and dust in the radiator of his BMW M4 DTM.
The final race of the 2018 DTM season is scheduled to get underway tomorrow [14th October] at 13:30 CEST [12:30 BST] where the battle for the Drivers’ Championship will be decided.
Race result
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 33 | René RAST |  |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 34 | 56:59.934 | 1:34.986 | 3 |
| 2 | 4 | Robin FRIJNS |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 34 | 0.354 | 1:35.141 | 7 |
| 3 | 16 | Timo GLOCK | |
BMW Team RMR | BMW M4 DTM | 34 | 1.856 | 1:34.743 | 8 |
| 4 | 2 | Gary PAFFETT |  |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport PETRONAS | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 34 | 2.641 | 1:35.238 | 2 |
| 5 | 28 | Loïc DUVAL |  |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 34 | 5.136 | 1:35.476 | 16 |
| 6 | 99 | Mike ROCKENFELLER | |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 34 | 6.066 | 1:35.728 | 15 |
| 7 | 51 | Nico MÜLLER |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 34 | 6.982 | 1:35.365 | 5 |
| 8 | 3 | Paul DI RESTA | |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport REMUS | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 34 | 7.952 | 1:35.695 | 6 |
| 9 | 7 | Bruno SPENGLER |  |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 34 | 8.709 | 1:35.676 | 11 |
| 10 | 48 | Edoardo MORTARA |  |
SILBERPFEIL Energy Mercedes-AMG Motorsport | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 34 | 10.023 | 1:36.075 | 9 |
| 11 | 94 | Pascal WEHRLEIN | |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport PETRONAS | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 34 | 11.001 | 1:36.011 | 14 |
| 12 | 25 | Philipp ENG |  |
BMW Team RMR | BMW M4 DTM | 34 | 11.653 | 1:34.877 | 12 |
| 13 | 53 | Jamie GREEN | |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 34 | 12.299 | 1:36.002 | 17 |
| 14 | 23 | Daniel JUNCADELLA |  |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport REMUS | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 34 | 13.030 | 1:35.437 | 13 |
| 15 | 47 | Joel ERIKSSON |  |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 34 | 13.400 | 1:35.484 | 10 |
| 16 | 11 | Marco WITTMANN | |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 27 | + 7 LAPS | 1:34.945 | 18 |
| 17 | 15 | Augusto FARFUS |  |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 25 | + 9 LAPS | 1:34.795 | 4 |
| R | 22 | Lucas AUER | |
SILBERPFEIL Energy Mercedes-AMG Motorsport | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 6 | DNF | 1:35.598 | 1 |