Rene Rast has won the the saturday race at the Norisring ahead of Nico Mueller and Joel Eriksson.
The 2017 DTM champion completed a remarkable comeback to take victory. Rast stalled his Audi RS5 DTM during the start, dropping the German down the grid before pitting early. That early stop proved an inspired decision as Jake Dennis appeared to nudge team-mate Paul di Resta into the side of Pietro Fittipaldi's Audi on the opening lap, ending the Brazilian's race and bringing out a safety car.
That safety car caught out those who had not yet stopped and left the likes of polesitter Nico Müller, Bruno Spengler, Philipp Eng and Jamie Green on the back foot once they did come in to take their stops.
Once the pit stops cycled through, Rast found himself leading at the Norisring. It was a lead he would not relinquish as he went on to win by some thirty seconds.
Behind him, Müller and Joel Eriksson had a fierce battle for the remaining two podium spots, with Müller passing Eriksson on the very last lap to take second away from the Swede. Loic Duval finished fourth after a sprint in the closing stages saw him pass both Marco Wittmann and Daniel Juncadella in quick succession.
Bruno Spengler captured fifth, with Juncadella in sixth, Philipp Eng seventh and Wittmann eighth. Jake Dennis and Ferdinand van Habsburg completed the top ten, thus putting three Aston Martins in the top ten. Jamie Green, Paul di Resta and Jonathan Aberdein were the last of the classified finishers.
The race saw a number of incidents and issues. Aside from Di Resta and Fittipaldi's clash on lap one, Timo Glock and Sheldon van der Linde came into contact moments after the safety car restart, sending the German into a spin only to be collected by Van der Linde's compatriot Jonathan Aberdein.
Glock and Van der Linde both retired, while Aberdein finished last. Robin Frijns and Mike Rockenfeller both retired with mechanical issues, with the latter sayong on team radio that he had 'no power' shortly before dropping out of the race.
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