Audi Sport Team Rosberg’s René Rast led home an Audi 1-2-3 after late race drama in the opening Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters race at the Red Bull Ring, with race leader Daniel Juncadella receiving a penalty upon crossing the line.
As Juncadella was deemed to jump the double-file restart with just five minutes remaining, René Rast leapfrogged to first as fellow Audi racers Nico Müller and then Mike Rockenfeller let him through in the final couple of corners in a bid to aid Rast’s title challenge.
Mercedes’ championship challenger Paul Di Resta finished fourth, but lost out on valuable points to Rast in the final corners.
The 2010 champion finished ahead of Jamie Green, who stormed to fifth late in the race, crossing the line just one tenth ahead of Lucas Auer.
Double champion Marco Wittmann defended hard in the final few laps to hold onto seventh, just 0.022s ahead of Phillip Eng.
Augusto Farfus dropped back after his pit stop and crossed the line ninth, while title contender Gary Paffett managed to scrape tenth after a torrid race ruined by contact on the opening lap.
Polesitter Juncadella made a great getaway on a damp-but-drying circuit as front row starter Timo Glock bogged down, and Mike Rockenfeller jumped to second.
Behind, contact ensued at the turn two hairpin as Phillip Eng was pushed sideways into Robin Frijns, spinning the latter round who was then collected by Loic Duval and Gary Paffett as the field concertinaed up.
Paffett struggled in the lower end of the field for the majority of the race, before salvaging tenth position at the line, but his championship hopes still took a big knock.
The contact necessitated a safety car, after which Rockenfeller timed a perfect switchback move at the hairpin to take the lead, only to lose out later on before his stop as Juncadella fought back on lap 15 of the race.
After the flurry of pit stops mid-race, Juncadella held onto the lead from Rockenfeller, as Rast crucially jumped Di Resta after opting to stay out longer before pitting.
A fierce battle then played out between Wittmann and Rast as they battled for the podium spot, before the former lost out many positions on lap 35.
With just five minutes remaining, Glock’s BMW stopped on the entry to the penultimate corner, warranting another safety car.
Juncadella led the Indianapolis-style restart, but was deemed to have accelerated too early, and was penalised with a drive-through on the final lap which then became a time penalty.
Keen to put as many cars in between Rast and Di Resta as possible, Audi then made the call for Rockenfeller and Müller to led the double Nürburgring winner through for the win.
The next DTM action of the weekend at the Red Bull Ring is free practice three, scheduled to get underway at 08:30 CEST (07:30 BST) tomorrow, ahead of qualifying two at 10:35 CEST (09:35 BST) and race two at 13:30 CEST (12:30 BST).
Race result
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 33 | René RAST |  |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 37 | 56:53.591 | 1:25.179 | 9 |
| 2 | 99 | Mike ROCKENFELLER | |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 37 | 0.705 | 1:24.952 | 3 |
| 3 | 51 | Nico MÜLLER |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 37 | 0.887 | 1:25.150 | 12 |
| 4 | 3 | Paul DI RESTA |  |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport REMUS | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 37 | 1.153 | 1:25.137 | 4 |
| 5 | 53 | Jamie GREEN | |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 37 | 1.444 | 1:25.199 | 14 |
| 6 | 22 | Lucas AUER |  |
SILBERPFEIL Energy Mercedes-AMG Motorsport | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 37 | 1.553 | 1:24.493 | 6 |
| 7 | 11 | Marco WITTMANN | |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 37 | 6.730 | 1:25.014 | 5 |
| 8 | 25 | Philipp ENG | |
BMW Team RMR | BMW M4 DTM | 37 | 6.752 | 1:25.198 | 13 |
| 9 | 15 | Augusto FARFUS |  |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 37 | 7.307 | 1:25.345 | 7 |
| 10 | 2 | Gary PAFFETT | |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport PETRONAS | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 37 | 7.598 | 1:25.548 | 10 |
| 11 | 4 | Robin FRIJNS |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 37 | 8.406 | 1:24.965 | 8 |
| 12 | 17 | Sébastien OGIER |  |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport REMUS | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 37 | 8.650 | 1:25.316 | 19 |
| 13 | 94 | Pascal WEHRLEIN | |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport PETRONAS | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 37 | 9.315 | 1:25.324 | 18 |
| 14 | 23 | Daniel JUNCADELLA |  |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport REMUS | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 37 | 27.238 | 1:24.774 | 1 |
| 15 | 47 | Joel ERIKSSON |  |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 37 | 27.621 | 1:25.321 | 16 |
| 16 | 48 | Edoardo MORTARA |  |
SILBERPFEIL Energy Mercedes-AMG Motorsport | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 37 | 36.870 | 1:24.758 | 17 |
| 17 | 16 | Timo GLOCK | |
BMW Team RMR | BMW M4 DTM | 31 | + 6 LAPS | 1:25.217 | 2 |
| 18 | 7 | Bruno SPENGLER |  |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 30 | + 7 LAPS | 1:25.588 | 15 |
| R | 28 | Loïc DUVAL | |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 1 | DNF | N/A | 11 |