René Rast sails to seventh victory in penultimate race of 2019

Audi Sport Team Rosberg driver René Rast drove a clean race to take his seventh DTM win of the season at Hockenheim, ahead of BMW Team RMG’s Marco Wittmann and fellow Audi driver at Team Phoenix Mike Rockenfeller. Jenson Button was the best placed driver of the Super GT entries, taking his Honda NSX-GT to ninth position at the chequered flag.

R-Motorsport retired Ferdinand Habsburg’s Aston Martin Vantage DTM before the race due to an engine problem, whilst Tsuyo Matsuda suffered a broken propshaft in his Nissan GT-R, being towed away from the grid. The weather remained dry, with the field starting the race on slicks.

At the start Rast took the lead, followed by a conservative Wittmann and with Team Phoenix drivers Mike Rockenfeller and Loïc Duval right behind. Rockenfeller overtook Wittmann for second place at Turn 7, with BMW Team RMG’s Timo Glock in fifth position.

Ryo Hirakawa pitted his Lexus LC500 at the end of the first lap for fresh tyres. Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline’s Nico Müller was ordered to give BMW Team RBM’s Joel Eriksson a place back for gaining an advantage by cutting the track.

The positions settled at the front, with Rockenfeller receiving a warning for forcing Wittmann out of the track. Button was running with his Honda NSX-GT comfortably in eighth place in the first part of the race and pacing faster than the four drivers ahead of him.

Glock went wide at Turn 1, jumping over the kerbs and lost ground. The off track excursion caused the driver’s side door to open and the Team RMG driver came into the pits at the end of lap nine. His pursuer Duval lost fourth position to a charging Jonathan Aberdein of WRT.

Müller continued recovering ground, using DRS to overtake Button at the Parabolika on lap ten. Duval fell into the grip of Team Abt Sportsline’s Robin Frijns, with the Dutch taking fifth position on lap 13.

Wittmann also overtook Rockenfeller for second place on lap twelve, with the Team Phoenix driver pitting three laps later. Meanwhile, Glock was the fastest driver on the track, two seconds a lap faster than anyone else.

Both Wittmann and Button pitted at the end of lap 16, as the Team RMG driver had gradually reduced the gap to Rast. The Team Rosberg driver pitted a lap later, but the safety car was called into action due to Team RBM’s Philipp Eng retiring at the Parabolika, as Hirakawa pitting for a second time.

The race was restarted two laps later using the IndyCar style side-by-side formation. Rast maintained the lead, ahead of Wittmann and Rockenfeller. The two WRT drivers came together at Turn 8, spinning off the track, with Pietro Fittipaldi handed a drive-through penalty for the collision.

On lap 23, Frijns and Glock came side-by-side, with Müller close behind. At Turn 8 the three were side-by-side, with Frijns and Müller prevailing ahead of the BMW driver.

Wittmann overtook Rast at Turn 6 on lap 24, but the Audi driver came back on the outside a lap later, with Wittmann a sitting duck against the superior traction of Rast’s RS 5 DTM.

Müller overtook Rockenfeller for third place on lap 26. Further back, there was a four-way battle between R-Motorsport’s Jake Dennis, BMW Team RMG’s Bruno Spengler, Button and BMW driver Sheldon van der Linde. The battle enabled Team Rosberg’s Jamie Green and Aberdein to close right up.

Spengler overtook Dennis for ninth place, with the Briton now a target for Button. However, Müller had to pit with four laps to the end, receiving a drive-through penalty for speeding in the pit lane.

Button overtook Dennis, climbing to ninth place. Van der Linde received a drive-through penalty for pushing Green out of the track

At the flag, Rast took his seventh win of the season ahead of Wittmann and Rockenfeller on the podium.

Frijns was fourth, followed by Duval and Glock. Di Resta was the best scorer for R-Motorsport in seventh place, with Spengler, Button and Eriksson completing the top ten.

Next up is the qualifying session for Race 2, starting at 10:35 CEST tomorrow.