René Rast claims his first victory of the season in thrilling race at the Lausitzring

Audi Sport Team Rosberg driver René Rast claimed his first victory of the 2020 DTM season in a nerve-wrecking Sunday race at the Lausitzring.

Different tyre strategies and side-by-side battles saw Rast and Team Abt Sportsline’s Nico Müller cross the finishing line separated by less than a hundredth of a second as the defending champion secured victory.

ART Grand Prix’s Robert Kubica started the race from the pitlane after a technical issue on his BMW M4 DTM forced mechanics to break the parc fermé rules.

At the start, Frijns kept the lead but Rast got ahead of Nico Müller. The reigning champion arrived to Turn 1 side-by-side with Frijns on the outside, with the Dutchman pushing Rast onto the grass. The Team Rosberg driver managed to stay ahead, coming to Turn 4 in a sandwich between Frijns and Müller. Rast managed to keep second place.

Rast was determined to make up for Saturday’s poor results and attacked Frijns on several occasions. The Dutch driver got a warning for his move at the start of the race. Further back, BMW Team RMG’s Marco Wittmann also started well from seventh on the grid, overtaking Müller for third on the first lap.

Frijns attacked Rast at Turn 1 on lap seven, coming side-by-side again and forcing Rast onto the grass, with the Team Abt Sportsline coming under investigation from the stewards. Rast managed to return to the track and keep the car straight to defend from Wittmann and stay in second place.

The stewards ruled that Frijns had to exchange positions with Rast, allowing the reigning champion through on lap nine in the infield. Wittmann tried to take advantage of the situation, attacking Frijns, but the Dutch racer defended.

Frijns was the first of the leaders to complete his mandatory pit stop at the end of lap 12, with Wittmann following suit. The Team RMG crew was quicker, with Frijns almost losing the position to the BMW driver.

Rast mirrored the strategy a lap later. The reigning champion returned to the track just ahead of Frijns, whose tyres were up to temperature. The Dutch overtook Rast, who came under fire from Wittmann as well.

The positions remained stable, with Müller and Team Phoenix’s Mike Rockenfeller leading the race, the last two drivers to not have changed tyres by lap 17 and still with over 30 minutes to go in the race.

Müller pitted from the lead at the end of lap 20, returning to the race in seventh place but advised by his engineer that his tyres would be much fresher than his rivals towards the end of the race. Rockenfeller was the last to pit, a lap later.

Frijns was back in the lead of the race, but with Rast starting a new attack, coming within DRS distance in just two laps. Meanwhile, Team RMG’s Timo Glock was hard at work keeping Müller behind, but the Müller’s superior speed allowed him to overtake for fourth position on lap 24.

Rast attacked Frijns at Turn 1 on lap 25, overtaking for the lead. The reigning champion was able to quickly open a safety gap.

Müller closed the gap to Wittmann, with the championship leader just 5.8 seconds behind Rast with 16 minutes to go on the race. Still, the BMW driver defended his gap, with Müller unable to get within attacking distance for a few laps.

Rockenfeller, with the freshest tyres of the field, was also on the move, already up to sixth place and attacking Glock on lap 33, going past for fifth position and ten seconds behind the Müller/Wittmann duo.

Müller finally overtook Wittmann for third place at Turn 1 on lap 34, with team-mate Frijns, two seconds ahead, his next target. The Swiss star caught the Dutchman two laps later, overtaking for second place at Turn 1 on lap 37.

Team Rosberg’s Jamie Green slowed down with six minutes to go with a problem in his RS 5 DTM, retiring to the pits.

The last few minutes of the race were spiced up by Müller lapping several tenths of a second faster than Rast, reducing the gap to the leader. Frijns was also suffering with tyre wear, with Wittmann under the Dutch’s rear bumper.

Wittmann attacked Frijns on the penultimate lap, overtaking for third place. Rast and Müller started the last lap separated by just three-tenths.

Both remained together during the whole last lap, with Müller going on the outside as both came to the finishing line. Rast took his first victory of the season by just 0.089 seconds ahead of Müller, with Wittmann completing the podium

Frijns could only manage to be fourth in the end, followed by Rockenfeller, Glock and Team RBM’s Philipp Eng. Team Phoenix’s Loïc Duval, Team RMR’s Jonathan Aberdein and WRT’s Ferdinand Habsburg completed the top ten.

Rast said after the race: “Overall it was such a cool race. Had a lot of fun, a lot of fights and it was awesome, that’s DTM. Hopefully we can keep up the pace for next weekend.”

Müller added: “I wish the race was one lap longer. I made my life harder with the start. I’m a little bit annoyed, because my pace was very good. I think it’s important that we’ve shown that, even if things don’t go our way, we can still fight for the win.”

Wittmann commented: “I’m happy for this race. I had a good start and first lap. I gave it all, I’m happy with P3, but there is still clearly a gap to the Audis.”

Müller leads the championship with 100 points, 39 ahead of Rast and 42 over Frijns. The next round of the season takes place next weekend again at the Lausitzring, this time in the Grand Prix version of the track.