Franz Engstler took his first-ever win in the World Touring Car Championship at Oschersleben in Germany, less than a week after he turned 50. Engstler took victory from Alain Menu and Gabriele Tarquini.
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When the lights went out at the standing start it was Norbert Michelisz who made a lightning start, jumping from third into the lead before the first corner. However on lap 6 the Hungarian driver spun out of the lead all by himself at the Zeppelin Curve, handing the lead to Engstler, a lead that he would not lose.
Michelisz initially only dropped down to fifth, even recovering to fourth temporarily, but having lost further places to Yvan Muller and Tom Coronel, on lap 11 he crashed into the tyres at turn one whilst attempting to repass the duo in front.
Coronel went on to pass Muller and finish in fourth when the Frenchman had a massive slide exiting turn 6, with Muller finishing in fifth and once again closing the championship gap. However with Robert Huff taking sixth, the gap now stands at just six points. Huff had been in front of Muller until lap five when, in an attempt to pass Tiago Monteiro, Muller slipped past them both.
Having started from tenth, Robert Dahlgren was once again in the ponits in seventh to complete his, and Volvo’s strongest-ever weekend in the WTCC.
Monteiro finished in eighth after struggling for pace during the race. Although the Portugese driver started on the front row he was clearly holding up faster drivers behind.
Finishing second in the Yokoham Driver’s Trophy, after Engstler took the win, was Stefano D’Aste who again had a strong race to ninth. He finished just ahead of Javier Villa García who took his first points since Brno in mid June.
There was an incident at the start of the race which took out two drivers immediately. Mehdi Bennani and Kristian Poulsen made contact away from the line and both made heavy contact with the pit wall, forcing them out of the race.