Audi’s Nico Müller continued his impressive form in the 2020 DTM, claiming a third straight win in race one at the Lausitzring, ahead of BMW’s Sheldon van der Linde.
Fresh from having inherited the race two win at Spa on Friday, Müller powered to second on the grid on Saturday morning, before comfortably claiming victory in the race.
The only time the Swiss racer was not headed was during the pitstop phase, after which he built up a seven-second lead.
A late race slow zone saw Müller’s lead dramatically reduced when the about-to-be-lapped car of BMW’s Jonathan Aberdein ahead of him slowed down by what Müller perceived as much more than the 80 kph limit.
This meant that after the slow zone was lifted, in place to recover Loïc Duval’s stricken Audi which had stopped by the track with a technical issue, van der Linde was just two seconds behind.
The South African sought to close the gap further in the final laps but was unable to do so, instead having to settle for his maiden podium as he continued to be BMW’s best performer.
Pole-sitter Robin Frijns brought his Audi home in third, for his second podium of the campaign, ahead of BMW’s Marco Wittmann in fourth.
It was on the whole a much better performance for BMW, which also saw Timo Glock come home in fifth to put three of the Munich manufacturers’ cars in the top five.
WRT’s Ferdinand von Habsburg claimed his best result of the season in sixth, defending hard from Audi’s René Rast in the closing laps, with Rast having to settle for seventh.
Jamie Green lost out to Rast for the second time in the race seven laps from the end and the Audi driver was eighth, ahead of BMW’s Philipp Eng and Audi’s Mick Rockenfeller in ninth and tenth, the duo having looked set to threaten Green at one stage before they dropped back in their own battle.
A third straight win means Müller now has a comfortable 37 point advantage over team-mate Frijns heading into Sunday’s race, which is scheduled to get underway at 12:33 BST (13:33 CEST).
Race result
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 51 | Nico MÜLLER |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 43 | 57:06.681 | 1:17.249 | 2 |
| 2 | 31 | Sheldon VAN DER LINDE |  |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 43 | 2.870 | 1:17.570 | 4 |
| 3 | 4 | Robin FRIJNS |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 43 | 7.513 | 1:17.627 | 1 |
| 4 | 11 | Marco WITTMANN |  |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 43 | 7.861 | 1:17.901 | 6 |
| 5 | 16 | Timo GLOCK | |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 43 | 14.569 | 1:17.914 | 5 |
| 6 | 62 | Ferdinand VON HABSBURG |  |
Audi Sport Team WRT | Audi RS5 DTM | 43 | 20.226 | 1:17.863 | 12 |
| 7 | 33 | René RAST | |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 43 | 20.679 | 1:18.028 | 7 |
| 8 | 53 | Jamie GREEN |  |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 43 | 24.914 | 1:17.984 | 8 |
| 9 | 25 | Philipp ENG | |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 43 | 26.654 | 1:17.740 | 11 |
| 10 | 99 | Mike ROCKENFELLER | |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 43 | 26.802 | 1:17.810 | 9 |
| 11 | 10 | Harrison NEWEY | |
Audi Sport Team WRT | Audi RS5 DTM | 43 | 53.182 | 1:18.141 | 15 |
| 12 | 22 | Lucas AUER | |
BMW Team RMR | BMW M4 DTM | 43 | 57.468 | 1:18.084 | 14 |
| 13 | 8 | Robert KUBICA |  |
BMW Team ART | BMW M4 DTM | 43 | 1:07.388 | 1:17.995 | 16 |
| 14 | 27 | Jonathan ABERDEIN | |
BMW Team RMR | BMW M4 DTM | 42 | + 1 LAP | 1:17.774 | 10 |
| 15 | 13 | Fabio SCHERER | |
Audi Sport Team WRT | Audi RS5 DTM | 42 | + 1 LAP | 1:18.000 | 13 |
| R | 28 | Loïc DUVAL |  |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 24 | DNF | 1:17.692 | 3 |