Edoardo Mortara takes his first win for Mercedes in red flag-interrupted race

Edoardo Mortara won an incident-packed race at the Lausitzring to score his first victory since his move to Mercedes AMG a year ago. The race was marked by the accidents suffered by Audi drivers Jamie Green, Nico Müller and René Rast, the last of which caused a red flag.

Philipp Eng got alongside pole-sitter Lucas Auer at the start, with the Mercedes driver closing the gap toward the pit wall to stop the BMW from taking first position under braking into the first corner.

Drama ensued further back as Jamie Green, who started from the penultimate grid spot, smashed into the back of fellow Audi driver Nico Müller, who had failed to get away and with no yellow flags to indicate the stopped car.

The safety car was called into action, with the pack led through the pitlane as the marshals cleaned debris from the main straight.

Müller required medical checks at the track, whilst Green was unhurt. “I had a good start, which caused me the problem, was so close behind René that I had no time to react when he swerved to avoid the stop car, which I didn’t know was there,” said the Briton.

The race was restarted after six neutralised laps, with Auer keeping first position ahead of Spengler and Eng. Further back, René Rast’s Audi rolled after colliding with fellow Audi driver Loïc Duval. The reigning champion was unhurt and able to get out of the car by himself, immediately attended by the onsite medical services. The race was red flagged as the rescue services recovered the wreck.

Mercedes’ Daniel Juncadella got a drive-through penalty for leaving the ‘Indy-style’ formation before crossing the finish line, with Audi’s Robin Frijns also getting a five-second time penalty for a jumped start.

The round of pit stops was started by Spengler and Eng at the end of lap 11, with fellow BMW driver Augusto Farfus, Mercedes’ Paul di Resta and Audi’s Mike Rockenfeller following suit.

Leading Auer, followed by team-mate Pascal Wehrlein, pitted on the following lap, both leaving the pits ahead of Spengler and Eng but the 2015 champion unable to avoid losing the position on cold tyres. Glock was the last of the leaders to change tyres, doing so on lap 13.

The BMW driver left the pits ahead of Auer, but the Austrian soon caught up, with Glock swerving to heat his tyres. Eng overtook Spengler and was on Auer’s tail.

Glock closed the inside on the main straight, with Auer trying to pass on the outside and the BMW driver out braking himself to avoid losing the position. Eng passed both as Spengler was close to colliding with Auer.

Eng continued charging to close the gap to Mercedes’ Mortara, overtaking at Turn 1 on lap 17 to take the lead from the Italian.

The use of the DRS was allowed with seven minutes to go, with Frijns and BMW’s Joel Eriksson the only drivers to not have completed their obligatory pit stops.

Glock closed the gap to Mortara, who also put the pressure on Eng, overtaking on lap 20 at Turn 1. Glock also took Eng on the following lap, as Eriksson and Frijns came in for their pit stops, with the Dutch also fulfilling his five-second time penalty.

Mortara took his ninth DTM win and first since his move to Mercedes, followed by Glock and Eng on the podium. Auer was fourth, followed by Spengler and di Resta, who had to defend from BMW’s Marco Wittmann in the closing stages. Mercedes’ drivers Wehrlein and Gary Paffett were next, with Augusto Farfus (BMW) completing the top ten.

Mortara said after the race: “It was a crazy race, with so many events and the incidents from Jamie and René. I was very lucky because the team did an incredible job strategy wise. I struggled during my first stint but was able to keep up and yes, mega job, I’m very happy.”