 season opener at Hockenheim.){kind=link}
The first race of the 2015 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM) season at the Hockenheimring this afternoon was won by Audi’s Jamie Green, after a masterful display at the head of the field.
The Mercedes duo of Pascal Wehrlein and Paul Di Resta rounded out the podium, after what was a dramatic and incident-filled race on the 4.574km track.
Wehrlein was passed by his Scottish stablemate in the early goings, but the young German was able to return the favour later in the race. Gary Paffett also had to start at the back of the grid alongside Augusto Farfus, as parc fermé regulations were broken by ART Grand Prix after qualifying.
Multiple incidents happened as the frontrunners went off into the distance, but both Timo Scheider and Robert Wickens would retire on the very first lap due to damage. Antonió Félix da Costa was also involved, having collected Tom Blomqvist at turn three. This incident created a domino effect that also forced the Anglo-Swede’s early retirement.
Miguel Molina retired on lap 9, having been assisted into pit lane with a welcome nudge from Maximilliam Götz. Daniel Juncadella ended up hitting the barriers off Sachskurve on lap 11, which brought out the Safety Car. After the restart, Mattias Ekström and Adrien Tambay came to blows, as Green sped off into the distance once again from Di Resta.
It was a difficult first race for the Mercedes ART Grand Prix drivers, as both Paffett and Lucas Auer would end up retiring after lap 15. Martin Tomczyk’s BMW ended up locking up under braking, which caused contact with Auer and Paffett was a victim of the ensuing melee, bringing out the safety car for the second time.
Edoardo Mortara had a welcome points finish, as the Italian finished fourth, ahead of Audi stablemate Mike Rockenfeller. Nico Müller also brought in a good amount of points for Ingolstadt, as the Swiss ace finished ahead of Team RMG’s Maxime Martin.
Defending champion Marco Wittmann finished ninth behind Team MTEK’s Timo Glock, with Augusto Farfus fighting his way back to the final points position from the back of the grid, rounding out the top ten.
Bruno Spengler finished 11th, as a result of attempting an ambitious pass on eventual 14th place finisher Christian Vietoris, which lost the Canadian two places in the process.
Mattias Ekström’s momentum from the end of last year had been halted, as the Swede finished ahead of da Costa, who had managed to keep out of trouble after his spin in the first lap. Adrien Tambay and Maximillian Götz completed the classified finishers, with just 16 cars completing the race.
Tomorrow’s qualifying session for round 2 starts at 1035 CEST tomorrow morning (0935 GMT)
Top ten result
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME/GAP | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 53 | Jamie GREEN |  |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 26 | 42:47.133 | 1:34.774 | 1 |
| 2 | 94 | Pascal WEHRLEIN |  |
gooix / Original-Teile Mercedes-AMG | DTM Mercedes AMG C-Coupé | 26 | 2.327 | 1:35.062 | 2 |
| 3 | 3 | Paul di RESTA | |
SILBERPFEIL Energy Mercedes-AMG | DTM Mercedes AMG C-Coupé | 26 | 3.221 | 1:34.751 | 5 |
| 4 | 48 | Edoardo MORTARA |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt | Audi RS5 DTM | 26 | 3.930 | 1:35.024 | 3 |
| 5 | 99 | Mike ROCKENFELLER | |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 26 | 4.667 | 1:34.871 | 6 |
| 6 | 51 | Nico MÜLLER |  |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 26 | 5.203 | 1:34.920 | 4 |
| 7 | 36 | Maxime MARTIN |  |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 26 | 11.140 | 1:35.472 | 11 |
| 8 | 16 | Timo GLOCK | |
BMW Team MTEK | BMW M4 DTM | 26 | 13.840 | 1:35.191 | 20 |
| 9 | 1 | Marco WITTMANN | |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 26 | 14.465 | 1:34.967 | 14 |
| 10 | 18 | Augusto FARFUS |  |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 26 | 15.458 | 1:35.136 | 23 |