René Rast takes his and Audi’s second win of the season at the Nürburgring

Audi Sport Team Rosberg driver René Rast drove a solid race to fend off BMW Team RBM’s Bruno Spengler’s attacks and take his second win of the season, with Mercedes-AMG driver Gary Paffett retaking the championship lead after finishing third.

At the start, Rast held the lead from the pole position, with Paffett in second and Bruno Spengler in third. Mercedes-AMG’s Daniel Juncadella moved up to sixth, but was then overtaken by BMW Team RBM’s Philipp Eng, with the Spaniard then letting through team-mate and championship contender Paul di Resta at Turn 1 on the second lap.

BMW Team RMG’s Timo Glock and Juncadella were now in the fight for eighth place, with the Mercedes-AMG driver receiving a warning for forcing the BMW off the track. The two drivers were side-by-side again on lap five around the first sector of the track, until Glock was able to pass, also forcing Juncadella off the track. Glock also received a warning for the incident, while Juncadella dropped down the order with damage.

At the front, Rast increased his lead over Paffett, with Spengler keeping a close distance in third. Running fourth was Mercedes-AMG’s Lucas Auer, fending off the attacks from BMW Team RMG’s Marco Wittmann. The Austrian was the first of the leading drivers to pit at the end of lap 11.

Di Resta attacked Eng for sixth place at Turn 1 on lap 13, and was able to get ahead but with the Austrian fighting back at Turn 3. Both drivers touched, with the Scot spinning off of the track. Di Resta managed to recover under his own power, but rejoined at the back of the pack and pitted at the end of the lap, while Eng got a drive-through penalty for the incident.

Spengler now closed the gap to Paffett in second, attacking the Briton at Turn 1 on lap 15. Rast pitted from the lead at the end of lap 17, with Paffett following suit. The Canadian would pit at the end of lap 20, quickly caught by Paffett as Spengler was on cold tyres. Still, the BMW driver managed to fight off the Briton’s advance to keep second place.

The two Audi RS 5 DTMs from local Team Phoenix were the last two to pit, with Mike Rockenfeller pitting on lap 28 and Loïc Duval coming in on the following lap.

The latter part of the race was livened up by two separate fights, with Mercedes-AMG’s Pascal Wehrlein overtaking BMW Team RMG’s Augusto Farfus for sixth and, later, team-mate Auer, who’ll soon would fall prey to Rockenfeller. Up front, Spengler was consistently lapping half a second faster than Rast, with the pair entering the last five minutes of the race separated by less than two seconds.

Glock passed Wittmann for fourth at the chicane on lap 37, with the BMW driver also closing the gap to Paffett. Glock went for the gap at the chicane three laps later, but had braked too late and had to take the escape route.

Rast went on to take his second victory of the season as Spengler’s tyres faded, with Paffett staying ahead of Glock to complete the podium.

Wittmann was fifth, with Rockenfeller also catching Wehrlein for sixth. Duval completed a solid run to finish eighth, with Farfus, who had run out of DRS, and Audi Sport Team Abt Nico Müller overtaking Auer during the last laps to complete the top ten.

Paffett now retakes the championship lead on 194 points, eight ahead of di Resta, with team-mate at HWA Edoardo Mortara remaining third on 138 points. Wittmann is fourth, with Rast now up to fifth, 73 points behind the Briton.

Action resumes on Sunday morning at 8:30 CEST for the third and final practice session of the weekend.