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Nico Müller canters to comfortable race two win

Nico Müller secured his fifth DTM win of the season in race two at the Nürburgring, once again beating team-mate Robin Frijns and René Rast, to extend his championship advantage.

At the start, pole-sitter Frijns pulled ahead of fellow front-row starter Ferdinand von Habsburg to lead into the first corner, as Müller, from the second row of the grid, passed Habsburg into Turn 2.

Although Dutchman Frijns was able to lead initially, he was unable to pull away from Müller, and on lap seven the Swiss made a move into Turn 1 to take the lead.

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Rast, running in third after passing Habsburg for the position at the chicane on the second lap, was the first of the front-runners to put, making his mandatory stop on lap 13.

Müller followed on the next lap, whilst Frijns came in on lap 15 to make his stop, and when the trio emerged the order remained unchanged.

Over the second half of the race Müller was able to extend his advantage at the front, eventually winning by almost 12 seconds as he eked out his championship lead to 18 points over his Abt Sportsline team-mate.

Rast completed the podium for the second time this season, the reigning champion again with no answer to the pace of the Abt Audis.

Sheldon van der Linde was once again the best BMW driver in fourth, the South African jumping ahead of both Marco Wittmann and Habsburg during the pitstop phase.

Fourth for van der Linde also moves him up to fourth in the drivers’ championship standings, albeit a huge 107 points behind Rast in third.

BMW’s Wittmann claimed fifth, ahead of Habsburg in sixth, the latter having slipped back the most in the opening laps.

Audi’s Mike Rockenfeller was seventh, the German passing BMW’s Timo Glock for the position six laps from the end when Glock went wide at Turn 8 and allowed Rockenfeller a run into the chicane.

Glock was eighth, whilst the top ten was completed by Audi’s Loïc Duval, the second driver to pit in the race, and BMW’s Jonathan Aberdein.

Audi’s Jamie Green endured a troubled race, running near the back after a grid penalty post qualifying and then pitting first on lap six. The Brit struggled for pace after initially running close to Duval, before pitting for a second time after dropping to the back and then ultimately stopping short of the full race distance.

BMW Team ART’s Robert Kubica retired early on with a gearbox problem, having run in sixth in the opening laps. The Pole would have faced a five-second pitstop penalty for being in an inaccurate grid position had he continued.

The next DTM event takes place in three weeks’ time at Circuit Zolder in Belgium, for a double header over two consecutive weekends.

Race result

POS NO DRIVER NAT ENTRANT CAR LAPS TIME BEST GD
1 51 Nico MÜLLER Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline Audi RS5 DTM 41 57:09.856 1:21.537 3
2 4 Robin FRIJNS Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline Audi RS5 DTM 41 11.790 1:21.943 1
3 33 René RAST Audi Sport Team Rosberg Audi RS5 DTM 41 19.526 1:21.479 4
4 31 Sheldon VAN DER LINDE BMW Team RBM BMW M4 DTM 41 22.733 1:22.304 6
5 11 Marco WITTMANN BMW Team RMG BMW M4 DTM 41 24.016 1:22.195 5
6 62 Ferdinand VON HABSBURG Audi Sport Team WRT Audi RS5 DTM 41 25.713 1:22.382 2
7 99 Mike ROCKENFELLER Audi Sport Team Phoenix Audi RS5 DTM 41 30.162 1:22.751 11
8 16 Timo GLOCK BMW Team RMG BMW M4 DTM 41 33.795 1:22.459 8
9 28 Loïc DUVAL Audi Sport Team Phoenix Audi RS5 DTM 41 40.763 1:22.363 12
10 27 Jonathan ABERDEIN BMW Team RMR BMW M4 DTM 41 44.264 1:22.621 13
11 10 Harrison NEWEY Audi Sport Team WRT Audi RS5 DTM 41 44.645 1:22.706 16
12 25 Philipp ENG BMW Team RBM BMW M4 DTM 41 45.058 1:22.742 10
13 22 Lucas AUER BMW Team RMR BMW M4 DTM 41 45.523 1:22.432 9
14 13 Fabio SCHERER Audi Sport Team WRT Audi RS5 DTM 41 46.347 1:22.944 14
R 53 Jamie GREEN Audi Sport Team Rosberg Audi RS5 DTM 35 DNF 1:22.370 15
R 8 Robert KUBICA BMW Team ART Audi RS5 DTM 8 DNF 1:22.621 7
DTM points deficit after Round 12
Graphic: TouringCars.Net
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