Marco Wittmann holds off Rockenfeller for his first win of the year

Reigning champion Marco Wittmann took his first victory of the year at Zandvoort, after a tough fight with Audi’s Mike Rockenfeller, while Audi’s Loïc Duval scored his first career points with a sensational podium achieved with an alternate strategy.

BMW’s Tom Blomqvist had a problematic start to the race, hitting some advertising signage on the formation lap and lost the left door on his M4 DTM. The Briton had to come into the pits, where he’d start the race.

At the start, BMW’s Maxime Martin bogged down on the grid from third, and was narrowly avoided by the drivers behind him. Mercedes’ Maro Engel made the most of the situation to climb from tenth to fourth position on the first lap, while Marco Wittmann moved ahead of fellow BMW driver and pole-sitter Augusto Farfus to take the lead, with Audi’s Jamie Green now in third.

Farfus, Mercedes’ Lucas Auer, BMW’s Bruno Spengler and Mercedes’ Paul Di Resta pitted at the end of lap one. Green went wide at Turn 11 on lap two, losing several positions and coming in for his tyre change at the end of the same lap.

Green was then battling with Mercedes’ Robert Wickens for tenth place when the Briton got ahead the Canadian, but then both collided at Turn 13 on lap four. Green spun, and managed to recover, with Wickens continuing with damage.

On lap nine, Blomqvist overtook Audi’s René Rast around the outside at Turn 4. Engel tried to take advantage of the gap, also taking the outside and the two made contact, with Rast forced to retire with suspension damage.

Audi´s Loïc Duval and Mercedes’ Edoardo Mortara assumed the lead of the race after they the were only two drivers to not have completed their obligatory pit stop at half distance. The Italian came in at the end of lap 22 with a puncture, completing is five-second pit stop penalty before his tyre change.

Ekström was running in fourth place but was losing two seconds a lap to team-mate Rockenfeller ahead of him. Ekström’s team-mate at Abt Sportsline Müller was on his guard, with Mercedes driver Paffett unable to overtake the Swiss. The situation led to Martin, Glock and Auer catching up to the Mercedes driver, but the Austrian suffered a puncture, ending his challenge.

Rockenfeller continued closing the gap to Wittmann, who was now up to second after Mortara’s stop, but was slowed by Duval as he caught up to the Audi who was still holding out on old tyres. Duval then pitted, leaving the duo in the race lead separated by just three-tenths of a second. Duval managed to rejoin the race in third place thanks to Ekström’s slow pace as he held up the rest of the field.

Wittmann managed to hold off Rockenfeller lap after lap to take his first win of the year by just under a second, with Duval in third position, 17 seconds behind, while Ekström was fourth, almost a minute down.

Paffett came side-to-side with Müller on the last lap, both almost overtaking Ekström at Turn 4, but the Swede managed to hold off for fourth place, followed by Müller and Paffett at the line.

Martin was seventh, followed by fellow BMW drivers Timo Glock, Farfus and Spengler. Although Spengler was tenth at the finish, the Canadian had five seconds added to his race time due to a jump start, with Audi’s Jamie Green collecting the final point.

Ekström now recovers the championship lead on 125 points, followed by Wittmann on 118, with Rast dropping from the lead to third on 114.

The next round of the championship takes place at the Nürburgring on September 9th-10th.