Audi’s Nico Müller took his maiden Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters win in the second race at the Norisring, passing BMW’s Tom Blomqvist in the pit-stop phase to secure a maiden win in the championship.
Whilst it was Blomqvist who controlled the first half of the race, the Brit was the first to pit out of the duo at the half-way stage of the race, leaving Müller to assume the lead.
The Swiss racer then stayed out for another six laps longer than the Brit, putting in enough quick laps to emerge from the pits as the leader, although a slightly slower pitstop for Blomqvist also looked to contribute to the changover.
Thereafter Blomqvist was unable to get close enough to Müller to challenge for the win, despite a late-race safety car period closing the field up.
Blomqvist’s Team RBM team-mate Maxime Martin completed the podium in third, having got past the Mercedes’ of Paul di Resta just after the first round of pit stops.
Mercedes’ Lucas Auer took fifth, with the Austrian looking one of the racier drivers in the field. Having been running in third early on, he lost out during the pitstop phase when his team carried out a slow pitstop, with both Di Resta and Martin passing in the process.
BMW Team RMG’s Marco Wittmann took home a solid points finish in sixth, ahead of Team MTEK’s Bruno Spengler in seventh, with the latter scoring in both races in a weekend for the first time this year. Wittman’s points give him a two-point lead in the drivers’ championship.
Audi’s Edoardo Mortara finished in eighth, ahead of BMW duo Timo Glock in ninth and Martin Tomczyk in tenth, the latter coming from the back row of the grid to take a point.
Robert Wickens endured another difficult race and finished just outside the points in 11th, having been running as high as fourth early in the race. The Mercedes driver was the only driver to make two pitstops after collecting a puncture when battling with Wittmann and Mortara at the half-way stage of the race, dropping him to the back of the field from which he only recovered in the closing laps.
The late-race safety car period came as a result of a spin for António Félix da Costa, who was turned around at Turn 1 by Daniel Juncadella, leaving debris in the circuit. The BMW racer had earlier dropped to the back of the field due to being handed a five-second penalty for an earlier botched pass on Audi’s Adrien Tambay, which left the Frenchman with not enough turning circle to make the first corner.
Another incident unfolded in the closing laps of the race, for which a safety car was not called, when Team Phoenix team-mates Mike Rockenfeller and Timo Scheider collided at Turn 1, spinning Scheider out of ninth place.
Brits Jamie Green and Gary Paffett both endured difficult races. The Audi driver retired as a result of contact, whilst Paffett pulled his Mercedes into the pits due to a loss of power after 59 laps.
Mattias Ekström, who had originally qualified his Audi on pole but started fourth due to the three-place grid penalty he carried from Saturday’s race, didn’t last long in the race. The Audi driver made contact with the rear of Di Resta’s Mercedes on the opening lap and immediately sprung a water leak, forcing him out.
BMW’s Augusto Farfus also went out on the opening lap, with damage to his front splitter and front-right corner from early contact with another car.
Race result
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME/GAP | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 51 | Nico MÜLLER |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt | Audi RS5 DTM | 72 | 72 LAPS | 48.362 | 3 |
| 2 | 31 | Tom BLOMQVIST |  |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 72 | 0.67 | 48.328 | 1 |
| 3 | 36 | Maxime MARTIN |  |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 72 | 1.543 | 48.491 | 6 |
| 4 | 3 | Paul di RESTA | |
Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 72 | 4.701 | 48.714 | 2 |
| 5 | 22 | Lucas AUER |  |
BWT Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 72 | 4.950 | 48.378 | 5 |
| 6 | 11 | Marco WITTMANN |  |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 72 | 5.197 | 48.558 | 10 |
| 7 | 7 | Bruno SPENGLER |  |
BMW Team MTEK | BMW M4 DTM | 72 | 5.907 | 48.503 | 14 |
| 8 | 48 | Edoardo MORTARA |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 72 | 6.228 | 48.422 | 9 |
| 9 | 16 | Timo GLOCK | |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 72 | 6.981 | 48.538 | 20 |
| 10 | 100 | Martin TOMCZYK | |
BMW Team Schnitzer | BMW M4 DTM | 72 | 7.224 | 48.422 | 23 |
| 11 | 6 | Robert WICKENS | |
SILBERPFEIL Energy/UBFS Invest Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 72 | 10.510 | 48.498 | 7 |
| 12 | 84 | Maximilian GÖTZ | |
Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 72 | 10.906 | 48.561 | 12 |
| 13 | 34 | Esteban OCON |  |
EURONICS/FREE MEN’S WORLD Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 72 | 11.543 | 48.512 | 18 |
| 14 | 17 | Miguel MOLINA |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt | Audi RS5 DTM | 72 | 13.013 | 48.619 | 22 |
| 15 | 8 | Christian VIETORIS | |
BWT Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 72 | 14.094 | 48.471 | 15 |
| 16 | 10 | Timo SCHEIDER | |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 72 | 20.885 | 48.615 | 13 |
| 17 | 99 | Mike ROCKENFELLER | |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 70 | 2 LAPS | 48.641 | 17 |
| 18 | 27 | Adrien TAMBAY | |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 68 | 4 LAPS | 48.522 | 8 |
| 19 | 12 | Daniel JUNCADELLA | |
SILBERPFEIL Energy/UBFS Invest Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 63 | 9 LAPS | 48.570 | 19 |
| 20 | 13 | António Félix da COSTA |  |
BMW Team Schnitzer | BMW M4 DTM | 63 | 9 LAPS | 48.437 | 11 |
| R | 2 | Gary PAFFETT | |
EURONICS/FREE MEN’S WORLD Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 59 | 13 LAPS | 48.599 | 24 |
| R | 53 | Jamie GREEN | |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 58 | 14 LAPS | 48.468 | 16 |
| R | 5 | Mattias EKSTRÖM |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 1 | 71 LAPS | N/A | 4 |
| R | 18 | Augusto FARFUS |  |
BMW Team MTEK | BMW M4 DTM | 1 | 71 LAPS | N/A | 21 |