Marco Wittmann wins rain hampered season opener at Hockenheim

BMW Motorsport Team RMG driver Marco Wittmann started the new DTM season in the best way possible after taking victory in the first race of the season at Hockenheim.

The 2014 and 2016 champion had a hard battle with Audi Sport Team Rosberg’s René Rast for first position, but the 2017 champion had to retire shortly before the end of the race – allowing Wittmann to secure what was ultimately a comfortable victory.

Both WRT’s Jonathan Aberdein and BMW Motorsport Team RBM Philipp Eng had to start from the pitlane. WRT broke parc fermé rules to repair Aberdein’s Audi RS 5 DTM after his qualifying collision, whilst BMW continued struggling to repair the electrical problems in the Eng’s car – the Austrian starting from the pits as the team couldn’t guarantee he could get off the grid safely.

Due to heavy rain falling again over Hockenheim at the time of the start, it was decided that there would be three formation laps, with the actual race distance reduced to 34.

At the start Wittmann got off the blocks slowly, with Rockenfeller also slow and losing two positions to fellow Audi driver Robin Frijns and R-Motorsport’s Paul di Resta. BMW’s Timo Glock spun at Turn 1, and was miraculously avoided by all drivers behind, after being tagged by Rast.

Eng and Daniel Juncadella, at the wheel of his Aston Martin Vantage DTM, pitted at the end of the first lap. Wittmann led, followed by Frijns and Rockenfeller who was already up to third place. R-Motorsport’s Ferdinand Habsburg was the first retirement of the race, parking his Aston Martin Vantage DTM in the pits at the end of the second lap.

Rockenfeller took second position from Frijns at Turn 6 on lap four, with the Dutch driver also losing to Rast a lap later.

Further behind, Glock was recovering distance after his first lap incident, catching up with Audi Sport Team Rosberg’s Jamie Green. The BMW driver overtook the Briton at Sachs on lap six for seventh place, quickly catching up with fellow BMW driver Sheldon van der Linde. Glock got ahead of the South African a lap later, with di Resta his next target.

By lap nine Rockenfeller had reduced the distance to Wittmann to barely a second, with Rast also keeping a close watch from third place. The 2017 champion was, however, the fastest driver on the track, with Rockenfeller conceding second place on lap 13 to allow Rast to attack Wittmann for the lead.

Further back, di Resta started to lose positions, falling before Duval, Van der Linde, Green and Aberdein, who was recovering ground after starting from the pit lane. The R-Motorsport driver came for his obligatory pit stop at the end of lap 15, but had to retire three laps later.

Aberdein continued his recovery, attacking Green at Turn 6 on lap 19 on the outside. The South African went wide but took advantage of the Briton going off track at the Mercedes Kurve, losing ground and ninth position to the WRT driver. A lap later, Jake Dennis, at the wheel of an Aston Martin Vantage DTM, would also overtake the Briton for tenth place.

On lap 23, the direction of the race announced a change of climatic conditions, allowing for the teams and drivers to open radio communications in order to explore the possibility of changing into slicks. Aberdein took advantage of the decision immediately, the first driver to mount slicks and having trouble to keep his Audi RS 5 DTM within the track limits.

Rockenfeller was the first of the frontrunners to complete his pit stop, mounting wet weather tyres again with seven laps to go, with BMW Motorsport’s Team RMG following suit a lap later.

Rast retired from the race with six laps to the end of the race, parking his smoking RS 5 DTM at the Motordrom. This left Frijns in second place and under attack from Glock. The Dutchmann completed his obligatory pit stop at the end of lap 30.

Wittmann came in a lap later, experiencing wheel spin when trying to leave his pit box. Glock was next and Dennis also came in with three laps to go, experiencing a problem with his stop and losing a lot of ground after running in seventh place.

At the chequered flag, Wittmann scored his twelfth victory in the DTM, ahead of Rockenfeller and Frijns.

Glock was fourth, followed by Duval and van der Linde in a fantastic sixth place for his debut race in the series. Spengler was seventh followed by Müller.

Juncadella was ninth, scoring the first points for R Motorsport in their debut in the DTM. Pietro Fittipaldi also completed a solid race in tenth place, taking the last point available and also the first for WRT.

The qualifying session for Race 2 is scheduled for 10:45 CEST on Sunday.