Robert Wickens retakes the championship lead after dancing in the rain

Robert Wickens achieved his second victory of the year after dominating today’s race at the Moscow Raceway, host of the sixth round of the 2016 DTM season. The Canadian now leads the points standings.

The race was started behind the safety car due to the heavy rain falling over the Moscow Raceway. When the race was properly launched, on the fourth lap, poleman Gary Paffett moved to let Wickens through, who would open the gap at nearly three seconds per lap.

The Canadian made a little mistake halfway through the race, but recovered and administered his advantage, taking the second win of the year.

Wickens praised his team’s efforts: “The car was absolutely fantastic here in the rain. It drove perfectly all day, right through from free practice and qualifying to the race. The conditions at the start of the race were very difficult. There was a lot of water on the track, and visibility behind the safety car was relatively limited. But once I had got past Gary, I had super grip and an incredibly fast car.”

Paul Di Resta started the race from third on the grid, but also went past Paffett to be second at the chequered flag. The Scot acknowledged the need for a good collective effort: “Qualifying was just fantastic and the key to today’s strong team result with four Mercedes in the top four places. It’s just tremendous. Today, all of our hard work during the past weeks and months came to fruition. As far as I’m concerned, it can carry on like this.”

Gary Paffett scored his first pole position of the year after making the most of the wet tyres in qualifying. He was third to take his second podium result of the season and was very happy at the end of the race: “I’ve felt really comfortable in the car the whole day. I didn’t take any undue risks in view of the conditions, and the team did a great job in preparing the car. We must also thank Max, who did an excellent job of holding off the rest of the field. We had a clear lead over the competition today. This is a perfect way to restart the season after the summer break.”

Debutant Felix Rosenqvist had a fight with BMW’s Timo Glock in the early stages of the race, but couldn’t contain the attacks of Edoardo Mortara’s and Jamie Green’s Audis. The Swede was tenth at the flag, reaping a point in his first ever DTM race: “The conditions were difficult all day. In qualifying, it wasn’t raining all that much, but just before the race, it started to rain very hard. I was actually a bit surprised that the race was able to go ahead. At the start, I opted for safety first and tried to avoid getting involved in any collisions. After that, I got into my rhythm but had to let Jamie Green and Edoardo Mortara go past. I was a bit disappointed about that. But tenth place is a magnificent result for my debut DTM race, especially considering the difficult conditions. So from that perspective, I’m very satisfied.”

Mercedes AMG has now jumped to the lead of the Manufacturers’ standings with 375 points, five over Audi Sport and nine ahead of BMW Motorsport. The Stuttgart squad expects a difficult day tomorrow, specially having to compete in qualifying with a significantly heavier car than their opponents.

Ulrich Fritz, Head of DTM at Mercedes AMG, had a big smile at the end of the race, after seeing his team score such a strong result, the best since Norisring 2015. Fritz said: “Today’s race day was just perfect with the top four positions in the bag, and then Felix finishing in the points in his maiden DTM race just put the icing on the cake so to speak. You can’t ask for any more. It was especially important to strike back today after Zandvoort. We’ve done that and now lead the drivers’ and manufacturers’ championships. My thanks go to the whole squad. Their performance as a team was outstanding today.”

Next for the DTM is the third free practice session, taking place tomorrow morning at 9:10 local time.