 career win at the Nürburgring, as chaos hit race 15 in the Eifel mountains.){kind=link}
BMW’s Maxime Martin took victory in the first Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM) race of the weekend at the Nürburgring, amidst a chaotic start to the 40-minute race, where a multiple-car incident brought out the red flag.
The Belgian took the lead at the very start, and controlled the race to the finish line, ahead of Audi Sport’s Edoardo Mortara. Points leader Pascal Wehrlein extending his advantage by taking the final spot on the podium.
Martin and Wehrlein came to blows going into turn one, as Wehrlein blasted past the outside of pole sitter Auer and tried his luck. Auer slipped back down the order, as both Bruno Spengler and Mortara passed the current points leader for second and third.
Spengler would end up retiring in lap 18, after suffering damage to the right front of his car, which resulted in a puncture, forcing the Canadian to pit.
Timo Scheider retired on lap 11, having tried to carry on after trying to avoid the accident between Green and Molina, having being tagged in the melée by the Brit.
Oschersleben race two winner Tom Blomqvist, who was also involved in the first lap incident, would end up retiring on lap 9. The Brit, who made contact with Molina in the first sector, was collected by a charging Gary Paffett, which saw Daniel Juncadella spin out as well.
After the Safety Car was deployed, the red flag was brought out shortly afterwards, leaving just thirty minutes of racing left. Paffett eventually finished a welcome fourth, with Maximillian Götz taking his best career finish in fifth place.
Pole sitter Auer would have to settle with sixth, ahead of defending champion Marco Wittmann, whose title defence looks to be pretty much over with three races left on the calendar.
Robert Wickens took eighth from BMW’s António Félix da Costa on the last lap, as title contender Mattias Ekström rounded out the top ten, having started in 17th place.
Wehrlein now leads the drivers’ standings on 155 points, 27 ahead of Mortara, who now is ahead of Esktröm by just a single point.
Qualifying for race two at the Nürburgring will start on Sunday at 1055 CEST (0955 BST), lasting for twenty minutes.
Race result
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME/GAP | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 36 | Maxime MARTIN |  |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 25 | 25 LAPS | 1:23.502 | 2 |
| 2 | 48 | Edoardo MORTARA |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt | Audi RS5 DTM | 25 | 2.543 | 1:23.930 | 5 |
| 3 | 94 | Pascal WEHRLEIN |  |
gooix / Original-Teile Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 25 | 2.955 | 1:23.805 | 3 |
| 4 | 2 | Gary PAFFETT |  |
EURONICS / BWT Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 25 | 14.227 | 1:24.031 | 14 |
| 5 | 84 | Maximilian GÖTZ | |
PETRONAS Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 25 | 15.293 | 1:23.659 | 6 |
| 6 | 22 | Lucas AUER |  |
EURONICS / BWT Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 25 | 16.75 | 1:23.857 | 1 |
| 7 | 1 | Marco WITTMANN | |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 25 | 17.349 | 1:24.077 | 12 |
| 8 | 6 | Robert WICKENS |  |
SILBERPFEIL Energy Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 25 | 20.62 | 1:23.973 | 13 |
| 9 | 13 | António Félix da COSTA |  |
BMW Team Schnitzer | BMW M4 DTM | 25 | 22.189 | 1:24.122 | 20 |
| 10 | 5 | Mattias EKSTRÖM |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 25 | 23.857 | 1:24.209 | 17 |
| 11 | 99 | Mike ROCKENFELLER | |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 25 | 24.398 | 1:23.858 | 8 |
| 12 | 3 | Paul di RESTA | |
SILBERPFEIL Energy Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 25 | 25.032 | 1:24.056 | 22 |
| 13 | 16 | Timo GLOCK | |
BMW Team MTEK | BMW M4 DTM | 25 | 25.383 | 1:24.241 | 18 |
| 14 | 27 | Adrien TAMBAY |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt | Audi RS5 DTM | 25 | 25.756 | 1:23.875 | 23 |
| 15 | 8 | Christian VIETORIS | |
gooix / Original-Teile Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 25 | 26.413 | 1:24.007 | 21 |
| 16 | 51 | Nico MÜLLER |  |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 25 | 27.142 | 1:24.080 | 15 |
| 17 | 12 | Daniel JUNCADELLA |  |
PETRONAS Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 25 | 27.724 | 1:24.032 | 9 |
| 18 | 18 | Augusto FARFUS |  |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 25 | 0.000698819444444445 | 1:23.566 | 16 |
| R | 7 | Bruno SPENGLER | |
BMW Team MTEK | BMW M4 DTM | 18 | 7 LAPS | 1:24.107 | 4 |
| R | 10 | Timo SCHEIDER | |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 11 | 14 LAPS | 1:25.118 | 19 |
| R | 31 | Tom BLOMQVIST | |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 9 | 16 LAPS | 1:25.714 | 11 |
| R | 53 | Jamie GREEN | |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 0 | 25 LAPS | N/A | 7 |
| R | 17 | Miguel MOLINA | |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 0 | 25 LAPS | N/A | 10 |
| R | 77 | Martin TOMCZYK | |
BMW Team Schnitzer | BMW M4 DTM | 0 | 25 LAPS | N/A | 24 |