Audi’s Robin Frijns claimed his first-ever DTM win on home soil in the opening race at Assen in The Netherlands, passing pole-sitter Loïc Duval to take the spoils in a hard-fought race.
At the start, on a damp and drying track, Jamie Green’s car failed to get underway on the first formation lap, requiring his Audi to be pushed off the grid and a second formation lap to be undertaken.
Duval held the lead when the lights went out, as Frijns, also starting on the front-row, lost out to the fast starting RS5 of WRT’s Ferdinand von Habsburg.
The Dutchman was able to re-pass the Austrian on the following lap, however, and Habsburg then slipped down the order over the following laps, losing places to René Rast, Nico Müller and Mike Rockenfeller by lap 11.
The leading quintet then circulated within ten seconds of each other, Frijns never being more than around half a second behind Duval until the first rounds of pit stops.
Duval was the first of the leaders to blink, pitting for fresh rubber on lap 16, whilst Rast and Müller came in on the following lap.
Rast had been running in third, ahead of Müller, but an issue with his front-right wheel during his pit stop cost him valuable seconds and Müller re-joined the race ahead of the reigning champion.
Frijns pitted two laps later than Duval on lap 18, emerging hot on the heels of the Frenchman and hungry for a maiden win in the second phase of the race.
The crucial pass came on lap 30 when Frijns made a better exit from Turn 5 than Duval, using DRS to his advantage to complete the pass heading into Turn 6.
The latter laps of the race saw Duval trying to re-claim the place from Frijns, but the Dutchman always covered his line, enabling him to claim a first win and move up to second overall in the drivers’ standings, 30 points adrift of Müller.
Duval took his second podium of the season in second, whilst Swiss racer Müller returned to the podium after just one round away in third.
Mike Rockenfeller claimed fourth, having been the last of the leaders to pit on lap 21 and passing Rast just three laps from the end.
Rast faded away in the second half of the race and could only manage fifth, as Audi drivers again locked out the top five positions.
Jonathan Aberdein was BMW’s best driver in sixth, ahead of compatriot Sheldon van der Linde in seventh.
Habsburg claimed eighth, the Austrian being given a post-race one-second time penalty for having passed off circuit, dropping him a position.
BMW’s Timo Glock and ART BMW’s Robert Kubica completed the top ten, the latter claiming his first-ever points finish in the DTM after a difficult induction.
BMW’s two-time champion Marco Wittmann could only muster 14th after having been spun out of tenth by Fabio Scherer on lap five, an incident the Swiss racer was handed a drive-through penalty for.
Race result
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 4 | Robin FRIJNS |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 36 | 53:45.729 | 1:27.092 | 2 |
| 2 | 28 | Loïc DUVAL |  |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 36 | 0.505 | 1:27.000 | 1 |
| 3 | 51 | Nico MÜLLER |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 36 | 0.950 | 1:26.838 | 3 |
| 4 | 99 | Mike ROCKENFELLER |  |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 36 | 3.188 | 1:26.466 | 5 |
| 5 | 33 | René RAST | |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 36 | 13.735 | 1:27.060 | 6 |
| 6 | 27 | Jonathan ABERDEIN |  |
BMW Team RMR | BMW M4 DTM | 36 | 26.768 | 1:27.589 | 9 |
| 7 | 31 | Sheldon VAN DER LINDE | |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 36 | 31.336 | 1:26.784 | 11 |
| 8 | 62 | Ferdinand VON HABSBURG |  |
Audi Sport Team WRT | Audi RS5 DTM | 36 | 31.604 | 1:27.694 | 4 |
| 9 | 16 | Timo GLOCK | |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 36 | 36.888 | 1:28.035 | 14 |
| 10 | 8 | Robert KUBICA |  |
BMW Team ART | Audi RS5 DTM | 36 | 43.576 | 1:26.864 | 15 |
| 11 | 22 | Lucas AUER | |
BMW Team RMR | BMW M4 DTM | 36 | 45.131 | 1:27.889 | 7 |
| 12 | 10 | Harrison NEWEY |  |
Audi Sport Team WRT | Audi RS5 DTM | 36 | 46.632 | 1:27.401 | 13 |
| 13 | 25 | Philipp ENG | |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 36 | 56.845 | 1:28.130 | 8 |
| 14 | 11 | Marco WITTMANN | |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 36 | 1:05.216 | 1:27.997 | 10 |
| 15 | 13 | Fabio SCHERER | |
Audi Sport Team WRT | Audi RS5 DTM | 36 | 1:23.093 | 1:26.123 | 16 |
| NC | 53 | Jamie GREEN | |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 22 | NCF | 1:26.879 | 12 |
