BMW Team RMG’s Maxime Martin converted his first-ever Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters pole position into victory at the Moscow Raceway on Sunday, finishing ahead of BMW Team Schnitzer’s Bruno Spengler and Audi’s Mattias Ekström.
Martin led the entire race from pole with Spengler following him in second throughout, unable to mount an effective challenge on the Belgians lead.
Both Martin and Spengler benefitted from making their compulsory pitstop just before the first safety car period, which was caused when Audi’s Timo Scheider retired on the start-straight with mechanical problems.
Several laps later the restart was dramatic when Audi’s reigning champion Mike Rockenfeller, running in fourth at the time, hit fellow Audi driver Adrien Tambay, who was running in third. Both drivers were out of the race on the spot, resulting in a second safety car phase between laps 29 and 32.
With only 13 laps left following the second safety car phase, Martin set about rebuilding his lead over Spengler, which stood at 4.259 seconds by the chequered flag. Canadian Spengler scored his second podium of the season in second, whilst third went to Ekström, who took his third podium of the season having passed Timo Glock for the position with only two laps remaining.
Championship leader Marco Wittmann finished in fourth, ahead of a recovering Nico Müller in fifth. The Swiss driver had earlier dropped down the order when he made his first pit-stop earlier than the rest of the field, but the Audi driver was able to climb back up the order as a result of the safety car intervention.
Glock held on to finish in sixth, having dropped three places in the final two laps, ahead of the Mercedes duo of Christian Vietoris and Pascal Wehrlein.
A late race battle saw Audi’s Edoardo Mortara forced to defend his ninth-place heavily from the rapid BMW of Augusto Farfus, who took the final point for tenth. The Brazilian was made to both attack and defend at the same time, as António Félix da Costa pushed him hard but had to settle for 11th. Miguel Molina, who finished in 12th, was also involved in the closing laps tussle.
Several drivers lost out considerably in the safety car phases of the race, unable to make their mandatory pitstop at the desired time. They were Robert Wickens (14th), Daniel Juncadella (15th), Gary Paffett (16th), Joey Hand (17th) and Vitaly Petrov (17th), although the latter had been running at the tail of the field throughout the race.
It was a disastrous race for the Brits, with Audi’s Jamie Green being the first to retire. The Team Rosberg driver was hit by Team Abt’s Mortara on the opening lap, and he pulled off the circuit after just six laps. Mercedes’ Paul di Resta also stopped after eight laps with apparent mechanical problems. That left only Paffett in the race, who brought his Mercedes home in a lowly 16th position.
Top ten times
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 24 | Maxime MARTIN |  |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 46 | 1:15:09.422 | 1:29.126 | 1 |
| 2 | 9 | Bruno SPENGLER |  |
BMW Team Schnitzer | BMW M4 DTM | 46 | 4.259 | 1:29.620 | 2 |
| 3 | 7 | Mattias EKSTRÖM |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 46 | 9.454 | 1:29.378 | 11 |
| 4 | 23 | Marco WITTMANN |  |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 46 | 9.591 | 1:29.569 | 7 |
| 5 | 22 | Nico MÜLLER |  |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 46 | 10.74 | 1:29.510 | 3 |
| 6 | 17 | Timo GLOCK | |
BMW Team MTEK | BMW M4 DTM | 46 | 15.632 | 1:29.489 | 10 |
| 7 | 5 | Christian VIETORIS | |
Original-Teile AMG Mercedes | DTM Mercedes AMG C-Coupé | 46 | 16.553 | 1:30.342 | 21 |
| 8 | 25 | Pascal WEHRLEIN | |
gooix AMG Mercedes | DTM Mercedes AMG C-Coupé | 46 | 19.3 | 1:30.667 | 19 |
| 9 | 15 | Edoardo MORTARA |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt | Audi RS5 DTM | 46 | 20.987 | 1:30.594 | 12 |
| 10 | 3 | Augusto FARFUS |  |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 46 | 21.11 | 1:28.456 | 6 |