Amidst plenty of action, including a lengthy red-flag stoppage just after the halfway point, BMW Team RBM’s Maxime Martin took victory on the streets of Nuremberg for the eighth race of the 2017 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters season.
A fantastic four-way battle for the lead over the last ten minutes of the race saw Lucas Auer take a welcome second place, with Team BWT team mate Edoardo Mortara taking advantage of slight contact between Marco Wittmann and Mattias Ekström on the final lap to take the final step of the podium in a photo finish, with all three literally cars side-by-side.
With plenty of overtakes happening along very different strategies seeing drivers pitting on the first two laps, the slip-streaming continued unabated until lap 23, with Lucas Auer and Maxime Martin battling for the virtual lead of the race.
René Rast and Robert Wickens clashed coming out of the Grundig hairpin, seeing the former being pushed sideways for several hundred yards, which brought out the Safety Car.
On the double-file restart on lap 31, Martin was able to take advantage and draft his way past three other cars including then leader Loïc Duval and Bruno Spengler, who clashed coming out of the final corner.
Spengler would then drop down the order after a right front puncture happening after the clash with Duval, as the 2012 champion was forced to limp back to the pits.
Lap 34 saw a heavy hit for Mercedes’ Gary Paffett, who was battling hard with Jamie Green for ninth. Paffett’s car became unsettled at the rear, putting the Briton into the inside wall, destroying it in the process.
The #2 Mercedes hit the barrier hard after losing control at around 270km/h, with Paffett being a passenger into the Grundig hairpin, colliding with the drivers’ side of Mike Rockenfeller’s Audi, bringing out the red flag.
Both drivers were taken to the medical centre after the event, with Rockenfeller limping after exiting his Audi, with Paffett only having bruising after the hefty impact. Audi Sport later confirmed that the 2013 champion has suffered a small fracture on the fifth metatarsal bone of his left foot.
After a lengthy delay for barriers to be repaired, the race was resumed under the Safety Car with a single file restart, with just over 25 minutes remaining.
Martin, Auer, Wittmann and Ekström would be locked in a stalemate with around 15 minutes, with the Belgian able to pull away from the Austrian, who would come increased pressure from Wittmann with four laps left.
Auer would end up going sideways out of the last corner on his heavily-worn Hankook tyres, with Wittmann going side-by-side with a better exit, but no places changed hands.
Esktröm passed Wittmann around the last turn on the penultimate lap, as Mortara had been closing over ten laps to take advantage of any contact, which saw Wittmann lightly tap the left rear of the Swede’s Audi.
Mortara pulled alongside with a better exit out of the final turn, with the trio bringing an exciting conclusion for the fans in attendance, with all three drivers being split by just 0.027 seconds at the finish line.
The DTM returns to Russia in three weeks’ time, as Moscow Raceway will host the fifth weekend of the 2017 campaign, with Ekström still keeping his lead in the standings on 89 points, just two ahead of the resurgant Auer, whilst race two winner Martin is now third, a further nine points behind.
Audi Sport Team Rosberg continues to lead the teams’ standing on 147 points, 20 ahead of BWT Mercedes-AMG Motorsport, with Team Abt Sportsline 2 points further behind. As a result of their two race wins this weekend, Bert Mampaey’s Team RBM is now fourth on 121 points, closing up the battle for the team title.
Audi Sport still continues to lead the manufacturers’ standings on 326 points, with the gaps to Mercedes and BMW now having closed significantly, with the two other brands 44 and 78 points adrift respectively.
Race result
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 36 | Maxime MARTIN |  |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 67 | 67 LAPS | 47.932 | 7 |
| 2 | 22 | Lucas AUER |  |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport BWT | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 67 | 2.903 | 47.974 | 6 |
| 3 | 48 | Edoardo MORTARA |  |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport BWT | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 67 | 4.460 | 47.996 | 16 |
| 4 | 5 | Mattias EKSTRÖM |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 67 | 4.462 | 48.013 | 5 |
| 5 | 11 | Marco WITTMANN |  |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 67 | 4.487 | 47.953 | 12 |
| 6 | 3 | Paul DI RESTA |  |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport SILBERPFEIL Energy | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 67 | 5.708 | 48.089 | 13 |
| 7 | 15 | Augusto FARFUS |  |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 67 | 11.613 | 48.173 | 15 |
| 8 | 53 | Jamie GREEN | |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 67 | 12.064 | 48.126 | 14 |
| 9 | 31 | Tom BLOMQVIST | |
BMW Team RMR | BMW M4 DTM | 67 | 12.694 | 48.170 | 1 |
| 10 | 16 | Timo GLOCK | |
BMW Team RMR | BMW M4 DTM | 67 | 13.347 | 47.983 | 9 |
| 11 | 6 | Robert WICKENS |  |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Mercedes me | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 67 | 15.163 | 48.073 | 2 |
| 12 | 7 | Bruno SPENGLER | |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 67 | 15.360 | 47.846 | 4 |
| 13 | 51 | Nico MÜLLER |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 67 | 17.560 | 48.227 | 3 |
| 14 | 63 | Maro ENGEL | |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport SILBERPFEIL Energy | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 67 | 23.377 | 48.248 | 18 |
| 15 | 77 | Loïc DUVAL |  |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 66 | 1 LAP | 48.132 | 17 |
| R | 33 | René RAST | |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 34 | DNF | 48.215 | 10 |
| R | 99 | Mike ROCKENFELLER | |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 33 | DNF | 48.194 | 8 |
| R | 2 | Gary PAFFETT | |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Mercedes me | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 33 | DNF | 48.353 | 11 |