Nico Müller has taken a dominant win in the Saturday DTM race at the Nürburgring while tital rival Robin Frijns threw away a podium finish with a botched overtake attempt on Rene Rast
Müller started the race from pole and had a great start, flying off the line ahead of Rast, Frijns and Marco Wittmann.
The top three held station until the pitstop cycle. As Müller pitted from the lead on lap twelve, Frijns battled his way past Rast to take the lead of the race.
After both drivers made their stops, Müller regained the lead, but Mike Rockenfeller had moved himself into second place after an early stop allowed him to move up the order. Rockenfeller’s podium hopes were short lived, however, as his tyres began to fade and he dropped out of podium contention.
He was first passed for second place by Rast after the German had managed to repass Robin Frijns in a contact-heavy battle. Frijns then closed in on Rockenfeller and took third. Rockenfeller then also fell victim to BMW’s Marco Wittmann, who moved to fourth with the podium in sight.
Wittmann’s hopes for a podium were realized on lap 27 when Frijns attempted a late overtaking manoeuvre on Rast into the first turn. The Dutchman, however, overshot the corner and spun, dropping him down the order.
This sealed second for Rast and allowed Wittmann into third, with Rockenfeller fourth as Frijns dropped to fifth.
Ahead of them, Nico Müller sealed a dominant win by crossing the line 15 seconds ahead of Rast and further extending his lead in the championship.
Philipp Eng was sixth ahead of Timo Glock, Sheldon van der Linde and Loic Duval. Duval had finished ahead of the South African on track but was handed a ten second time penalty for crossing the white line on pit entry, dropping him to ninth ahead of Jonathan Aberdein, who completed the top ten.
Ferdinand Habsburg was eleventh ahead of Lucas Auer, Jamie Green and Harrison Newey, the best placed rookie in fourteenth.
Fabio Scherer was fifteenth, fifteen seconds clear of last placed Robert Kubica, who continues to struggle in his maiden DTM season.
