Paul di Resta closes down gap to just one point after Misano Race 1 victory

HWA Mercedes-AMG driver Paul di Resta won his third race of the season at Misano, heating up the battle for the title as the points gap is now just one point after main rival Gary Paffett failed to finish. Audi Sport Abt’s Robin Frijns recovered in the closing stages to score his best DTM result in second, with di Resta’s team-mate Edoardo Mortara third in an incident-packed race.

Di Resta bogged down at the start, allowing Mortara to get briefly ahead but both di Resta and the other HWA Mercedes AMG C63 DTM of Gary Paffett overtook the Italian at Turn 1. BMW Team RMG’s Glock, who was slow off the grid, came side-by-side with Audi’s René Rast to overtake the reigning champion for fourth at Turn 12, with Mercedes-AMG’s Lucas Auer also getting past.

Phoenix Audi’s Loïc Duval and BMW Team RMR’s Philipp Eng were the first to pit and switch from wet tyres at the end of the third lap. BMW’s Marco Wittmann was also struggling on wet tyres, spinning at Turn 13 after a tag from Frijns and came straight in for fresh tyres on lap four along with Mortara and Glock.

Di Resta and Paffett pitted from the lead at the end of lap six, both changing from wets to slicks, with the Scot leaving the pits ahead of his team-mate. They both quickly caught Mortara, with Paffett and the Italian coming together at Turn 6 as the championship leader went past.

The race wouldn’t last much longer for Paffett after he locked his tyres at Turn 8 on lap nine and went wide. As he tried to rejoin the track, he was hit by Mortara, with BMW’s Philipp Eng on the inside of the Mercedes pair. Paffett had to retire, with the safety car called into action.

Paffett said after the incident: “I was out the pits on cold tyres, and Edo had warm tyres. The next lap after my pit stop, I locked a wheel and went wide, and then as I came back onto the circuit Edo and I made contact and it broke the steering.”

The race was restarted on lap 12 with Farfus getting ahead of Mercedes-AMG’s Daniel Juncadella, who braked late and went wide at Turn 4. Further down the order, Audi drivers Jamie Green and Rast came together with BMW’s Bruno Spengler, whilst Mercedes-AMG’s Lucas Auer was tagged by BMW’s Joel Eriksson, who got a drive-through penalty for the incident. The safety car was called then out for a second time.

Rast explained: “(It was a) very chaotic race. My start didn’t go well, and I was always in the wrong place at the wrong time. I got a few hits, and in the end I got turned around, I’m not sure from whom.”

The race restarted on lap 17, with di Resta getting ahead of Eng and was now behind BMW Team RMG’s Augusto Farfus who, together with Juncadella, were the only two cars not to have pitted. Di Resta went wide at Turn 8 on the following lap, with Eng going past and retaking the virtual lead of the race, while Farfus pitted at the end of lap 20.

Di Resta and Mortara closed the gap to Eng on lap 24, with the Austrian seemingly struggling with his tyres. The trio came together at Turn 9 on the following lap, with di Resta taking the lead and Mortara going into second. Eng would continue to struggle, gradually falling behind Juncadella and the pursuing Audis of Frijns, Duval and Nico Müller and BWM team-mate Timo Glock.

Juncadella suffered an electrical problem on lap 29, parking his Mercedes on the grass as HWA team-mate Pascal Wehrlein was blasting through the field, overtaking Glock and Eng to climb up to sixth place.

Meanwhile, Frijns had also closed the gap to the leaders, coming under Mortara’s rear bumper with two minutes to go in the race. The Dutchman got the inside at Turn 8 on the last lap but Mortara was able to recover the position. Frijns didn’t give up, taking the inside again at Turn 13.

Di Resta took his third victory of the season to close the gap to Paffett in the championship to just one point, with Frijns scoring his best DTM result with second and Mortara completing the podium.

The Scot was ecstatic after his victory: “You don’t get better days. It couldn’t have been any more difficult, qualifying in the wet, (we had a) good pit stop and then we had the safety car. At the restart, (Philipp) Eng was very aggressive and I was thinking about the championship and let him go for it, and I think he struggled with tyre deg as a result.”

Frijns explained his manoeuvre on Mortara: “I came from far in Turn 8 so I tried there, as I saw he braked a little early there the lap before. I knew it was the last lap so I gave it a go, and he did a little mistake at Turn 14 which allowed me to take P2.”

Duval was fourth, followed by Müller. Wehrlein was sixth at the line, with Glock getting ahead of Eng also in the closing stages of the race. Wittmann was ninth, with Mike Rockenfeller completing the top ten for Audi.

After this race, Paffett still leads the standings on 177 points, one point ahead of di Resta. Mortara is third on 118, with BMW’s Marco Wittmann fourth, 65 points behind the leader.

Action resumes tomorrow at 16:40 for the third and final practice session, with qualifying at 20:00 and the race at 22:30 CEST.