Robert Wickens takes victory in Race 1 at Moscow Raceway

Mercedes AMG driver Robert Wickens put on a dominatant display at the Moscow Raceway, host of the sixth round of the 2016 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters season. The Canadian, starting from second place on the grid, took the lead in the early stages and was unstoppable.

Heavy rain and fog welcomed the DTM field for the first race of the weekend, with plenty of standing water around the track.

The race was started behind the safety car in order for the drivers to identify potential wet patches around the track. After three neutralised laps, the race was started proper when the safety car was called in.

During the first flying lap, Mucke Motorsport’s Gary Paffett went wide, with fellow Mercedes driver Robert Wickens taking first place. The Canadian would disappear into the distance nearly three seconds a lap faster than the Briton.

Timo Glock and Felix Rosenqvist had a scruff for eighth place at the beginning of the race, with the Mercedes debutant prevailing over the BMW driver. However, Audi’s Edoardo Mortara was on a charge, and overtook both of them.

Glock also fell prey to Jamie Green, who was battling visibility problems. The Briton from Audi Team Rosberg also caught Rosenqvist to take ninth place.

Ahead, Paul Di Resta took second place from Gary Paffett, but a missed braking point at the last turn, which allowed Paffett to close right up to his stable-mate at Mercedes. Soon, the strategy to lock as many points as possible for the manufacturers’ table came into play, with Paffett not challenging Di Resta any further.

Robert Wickens would also go wide whilst with an 11-second lead, but managed to recover without drama or losing much ground.

Edoardo Mortara continued closing the gap to fellow Audi driver Timo Scheider, managing to overtake on lap 15. The Italian then tried to catch BMW’s Maxime Martin who, in sixth place, was the only man in the points for the Bavarian manufacturer.

However, Jamie Green also overtook Scheider and, with tyres in better condition, swapped positions with Mortara in order to have a better chance of overtaking Martin. The move took place on lap 16, with just five minutes to go.

Mattias Ekström was, on his part, trying to close in Maximilian Götz who, in fourth position, was the last of the leading pack of Mercedes C63 DTMs. The Swede got to the rear bump of the German driver in the early stages, but visibility problems prevented him from being able to attack. In the latter stages of the race, however, and with the rain having subsided slightly, Ekström managed to retake his offensive over Götz, with Martin and Green also closing in.

Rain got heavier again in the last moments of the race, so there were no position changes in the final minutes.

Robert Wickens achieved his second victory of the year with nearly eleven seconds over fellow Mercedes AMG driver Paul Di Resta. The Stuttgart manufacturer completed the podium with Gary Paffett, with Maximilian Götz in fourth position.

Mattias Ekström was fifth in his Audi RS 5 DTM, followed by the sole BMW in the points, in the hands of Maxime Martin.

The Audi contingent formed by Jamie Green, Edoardo Mortara and Timo Scheider took the following three positions, with Felix Rosenqvist completing his debut for Mercedes AMG taking the final point in tenth place.

Robert Wickens said: “It’s an amazing result. Taking the whole podium for Mercedes is the best result, we will celebrate tonight, because tomorrow is going to be tough.”

Gary Paffett said at the end of the race: “We are all part of a team, we have a goal in this team. Today is about Mercedes Benz. Robert had good pace today and had a good race, which is important for the championship.”

The DTM is back on track at 9:10 tomorrow local time for the third free practice session.