Audi Sport Team Rosberg’s Jamie Green narrowed the gap to Mattias Ekström in the drivers championship by taking victory in race one of the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters weekend at Hockenheim.
The race win reduced the gap between Green and Ekström to just nine points, after the latter failed to score by finishing in eleventh position.
DTM rookie René Rast is now just three points behind Green, twelve adrift of current leader Ekström.
Mike Rockenfeller’s second-place finish leaves him twenty points off Ekström’s lead, ensuring the drivers championship will be fought between four Audi drivers.
Further championship drama came during the race and still continues as both Green and Ekström are currently under investigation for forcing other drivers off the circuit.
During the podium ceremony Green was informed that he has a ten-place grid penalty for the race tomorrow, and title rival Ekström has a five-place grid penalty – but this is still unconfirmed.
Green started third on the grid, but managed to pass Maxime Martin round the outside at the first corner before closing the gap to erstwhile leader Timo Glock and passing for the lead after a tight battle.
Green made his move for the lead on Glock stick on lap seven using DRS, but earned himself a black-and-white warning flag for forcing the BMW driver off the road exiting the Mercedes arena section.
Once out front and after pit stops had cycled through, Green’s lead was not threatened, and he took the win by 3.939 seconds from Audi stablemate Mike Rockenfeller.
The 2013 champion enjoyed a late-race charge to the front after opting to elongate his first stint and pitting at the end of lap 23.
Coming out in eighth position on fresh tyres, Rockenfeller progressed to second after passing polesitter Glock on the final lap of the race.
Glock completed the podium ahead of fellow BMW driver Maxime Martin, with Edoardo Mortara the highest placed Mercedes AMG C 63 rounding off the top five.
Finishing in sixth position was championship contender René Rast, who came under pressure late in the race from the Mercedes of Robert Wickens, who passed the Audi Sport Team Rosberg driver before running wide into the Mercedes arena.
Wickens dropped back a couple of seconds as a result, and finished seventh ahead of Mercedes stablemates Lucas Auer and 2005 champion Gary Paffett.
Mercedes title hope Auer made good progress in the race to finish in eighth after starting fifteenth, but is now mathematically out of contention for the championship.
Bruno Spengler completed the top ten, denying current championship leader Mattias Ekström of a single point as he finished in eleventh position.
Defending champion and BMW’s title contender Marco Wittmann also finished outside the points in fourteenth.
The DTM drivers hit the track again tomorrow morning for the third free practice session, which gets underway at 09:00 CEST, lasting 30 minutes.
Race result
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 53 | Jamie GREEN |  |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 36 | 56:52.478 | 1:33.056 | 3 |
| 2 | 99 | Mike ROCKENFELLER |  |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 36 | 3.939 | 1:32.819 | 7 |
| 3 | 16 | Timo GLOCK | |
BMW Team RMR | BMW M4 DTM | 36 | 5.666 | 1:32.876 | 1 |
| 4 | 36 | Maxime MARTIN |  |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 36 | 10.448 | 1:33.260 | 2 |
| 5 | 48 | Edoardo MORTARA |  |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport BWT | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 36 | 12.962 | 1:33.299 | 5 |
| 6 | 33 | René RAST | |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 36 | 14.752 | 1:33.492 | 4 |
| 7 | 6 | Robert WICKENS |  |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Mercedes me | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 36 | 16.196 | 1:33.136 | 6 |
| 8 | 22 | Lucas AUER |  |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport BWT | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 36 | 23.633 | 1:33.470 | 15 |
| 9 | 2 | Gary PAFFETT | |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Mercedes me | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 36 | 24.615 | 1:33.445 | 11 |
| 10 | 7 | Bruno SPENGLER | |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 36 | 25.027 | 1:33.622 | 12 |
| 11 | 5 | Mattias EKSTRÖM |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 36 | 25.764 | 1:33.369 | 10 |
| 12 | 51 | Nico MÜLLER |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 36 | 26.371 | 1:33.599 | 9 |
| 13 | 11 | Marco WITTMANN | |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 36 | 27.426 | 1:33.390 | 8 |
| 14 | 3 | Paul DI RESTA | |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport SILBERPFEIL Energy | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 36 | 29.288 | 1:33.389 | 13 |
| 15 | 31 | Tom BLOMQVIST | |
BMW Team RMR | BMW M4 DTM | 36 | 30.867 | 1:33.554 | 16 |
| 16 | 63 | Maro ENGEL | |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport SILBERPFEIL Energy | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 36 | 35.288 | 1:33.504 | 17 |
| 17 | 15 | Augusto FARFUS |  |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 36 | 37.358 | 1:33.081 | 14 |
| 18 | 77 | Loïc DUVAL |  |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 36 | 42.024 | 1:33.508 | 18 |