The second race of the DTM season opener got underway with a dramatic first lap, as the main race was won by Paul Di Resta, who led from lights out to chequered flag, after 37 laps of the 4.574-km track.
The Mercedes driver finished ahead of BMW’s Timo Glock by 13.024 seconds, with Augusto Farfus completing the top three. The race saw the Safety Car deployed on the very first lap, after an incident involving António Félix da Costa, Bruno Spengler, Jamie Green and Esteban Ocon.
Maxime Martin was able to keep a charging Gary Paffett at bay for fourth, as the Brit was flying after two trips down pit lane during the race. Robert Wickens would take sixth ahead of BMW’s Tom Blomqvist, with Nico Müller being the best of the Audis in eighth place.
Marco Wittmann and Martin Tomczyk would make it six BMWs in the top ten once again, with the latter losing out on more points, thanks to a late trip into the gravel with two laps remaining.
Going into turn one at the start, it was three wide behind Di Resta, who strode off into the distance, as Farfus, Martin and Paffett battled it out for second.
Heading towards turn three, da Costa went up the inside of Ocon, who was attempting a similar pass on Spengler, but there was no gap for the Portuguese driver, who hit the Frenchman.
As a result, Spengler was spun out into the gravel, whilst Jamie Green tried to avoid the clash around the outside. However, the Brit would clobber the left front of Ocon’s car, ending his race. Spengler would also retire on the very same lap.
Meanwhile, Paffett would make his way past Martin into P2 behind his Scottish stablemate, with Farfus also making his way past the Belgian into Spitskerhe with 15 minutes completed.
Mattias Ekström would be in the wars with Maximilian Götz, with the pair swapping more than just paint over several laps, with the Swede’s Audi RS5 DTM looking a bit second-hand as a result.
Da Costa would retire his BMW Lifestyle M4 DTM on lap 12, as the car became difficult to drive after a puncture caused further problems.
The majority of BMW’s drivers opted to pit around the same time as Mike Rockenfeller, who was the first driver to make his mandatory stop on the same lap as da Costa retiring.
Paffett and Wickens pitted at the same time, and almost came together as the Brit left pit lane, whilst the Canadian drove into his pit box. Race one winner Edoardo Mortara’s right door would start flapping around, as di Resta kept ahead of Paffett after his pit stop.
This was despite an issue with the right front wheel for the Scot, as Nico Müller took the lead for the two laps before going in for his stop.
Paffett would be investigated for an unsafe release in the pits following his required pitstop, and was given a drive-through penalty for the offence by his pitcrew. This was even with the Briton catching the Scot quickly, and the 2005 champion opted to pit on Lap 19 to serve his penalty, exiting the pits behind Müller in 11th.
Ekström retired on lap 16, due to the extensive damage to his RS5 DTM, which saw the Swede score no points after a very busy weekend with DTM and World RX. Timo Scheider also retired on the very same lap, due to heavy damage to his car.
Miguel Molina was the driver to go the furthest on the Hankook tyres, opting to pit on lap 23. But the Spaniard would end up pointing the other way down pit lane, having spun after hitting the kerb on entry, being the fourth Audi to retire.
The battle for the final podium spot would intensify in the last quarter of the race, as Glock was being caught by both Martin and Wickens. Paffett was making major inroads after his penalty, as the Brit was able to move up to sixth place in front of Blomqvist.
The Slow Zone was deployed on lap 31 in sector 3, as Daniel Juncadella ended up going straight off into the gravel at SachsKurve, with seven minutes remaining.
This would catch out Christian Vietoris, who did not respect the Slow Zone and received a drive-through penalty, dropping him from 12th to 15th at the end of the race.
In two weeks’ time, Di Resta will head to the Red Bull Ring as the current points leader with 37 points, 11 ahead of Wickens, with Edoardo Mortara and Müller within striking distance.
Mercedes also take the lead in the constructors’ standings with 83 points to their credit, with BMW on 72 and Audi on 47. The Styrian mountains was the scene of controversy last year, but here’s hoping that 2016 will be a little bit different.
Race result
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME/GAP | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 3 | Paul di RESTA |  |
SILBERPFEIL Energy Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 37 | 37 LAPS | 1:35.335 | 1 |
| 2 | 16 | Timo GLOCK |  |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 37 | 13.024 | 1:35.943 | 6 |
| 3 | 18 | Augusto FARFUS |  |
BMW Team MTEK | BMW M4 DTM | 37 | 13.905 | 1:35.927 | 2 |
| 4 | 36 | Maxime MARTIN |  |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 37 | 14.493 | 1:35.676 | 4 |
| 5 | 2 | Gary PAFFETT | |
EURONICS / BWT Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 37 | 15.055 | 1:35.388 | 3 |
| 6 | 6 | Robert WICKENS |  |
SILBERPFEIL Energy Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 37 | 19.377 | 1:36.054 | 5 |
| 7 | 31 | Tom BLOMQVIST | |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 37 | 21.69 | 1:35.866 | 8 |
| 8 | 51 | Nico MÜLLER |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt | Audi RS5 DTM | 37 | 22.22 | 1:35.898 | 15 |
| 9 | 11 | Marco WITTMANN | |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 37 | 23.79 | 1:36.187 | 9 |
| 10 | 100 | Martin TOMCZYK | |
BMW Team Schnitzer | BMW M4 DTM | 37 | 24.454 | 1:36.080 | 14 |
| 11 | 99 | Mike ROCKENFELLER | |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 37 | 31.303 | 1:35.525 | 18 |
| 12 | 48 | Edoardo MORTARA |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 37 | 50.053 | 1:36.377 | 12 |
| 13 | 84 | Maximilian GÖTZ | |
PETRONAS Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 37 | 56.722 | 1:36.629 | 17 |
| 14 | 27 | Adrien TAMBAY |  |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 37 | 1:02.408 | 1:35.896 | 19 |
| 15 | 8 | Christian VIETORIS | |
BWT Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 37 | 1:05.985 | 1:36.374 | 21 |
| 16 | 22 | Lucas AUER |  |
BWT Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 35 | 2 LAPS | 1:36.341 | 16 |
| 17 | 12 | Daniel JUNCADELLA |  |
PETRONAS Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 29 | 8 LAPS | 1:35.657 | 23 |
| R | 17 | Miguel MOLINA | |
Audi Sport Team Abt | Audi RS5 DTM | 22 | 15 LAPS | 1:36.125 | 24 |
| R | 10 | Timo SCHEIDER | |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 18 | 19 LAPS | 1:37.796 | 22 |
| R | 5 | Mattias EKSTRÖM |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 16 | 21 LAPS | 1:38.109 | 20 |
| R | 13 | António Félix da COSTA |  |
BMW Team Schnitzer | BMW M4 DTM | 11 | 26 LAPS | 1:37.732 | 10 |
| R | 7 | Bruno SPENGLER | |
BMW Team MTEK | BMW M4 DTM | 1 | 36 LAPS | N/A | 13 |
| R | 34 | Esteban OCON | |
PETRONAS Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 0 | LAP 0 | N/A | 7 |
| R | 53 | Jamie GREEN | |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 0 | LAP 0 | N/A | 11 |