Mercedes’ Paul Di Resta became the third different winner in the 2017 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters season with a sterling drive from 13th on the grid, to win ahead of the BMW pair of Timo Glock and Bruno Spengler at the Hungaroring this afternoon.
The Scot, who pitted on lap six along with Glock, took a hard-earned victory by 01.393 seconds after 34 laps, whilst Spengler was also able to take advantage of a Safety Car period on lap eight by pitting for the second time.
The Canadian would pip 2013 champion Mike Rockenfeller to the final step of the podium, as the Audi driver charged his way from around 20 seconds behind Di Resta to within half a second of the 2012 Champion.
Team Abt Sportsline’s Mattias Ekström was in contention for the lead but ended up rounding out the top five, battling with pole sitter René Rast early on, with Rast holding off the 2-time champion on the approach to turn one on the first lap.
Rast finished sixth, having led the race twice, with Team Rosberg team mate Jamie Green seventh, who would not be able to respond to the strategy call from Team Phoenix, enabling Rockenfeller to continue his charge towards the front.
Green would also be in the wars with Edoardo Mortara, with the pair clashing going into the turn four chicane on lap 22, with the Italian dropping places behind defending champion Marco Wittmann, along with receiving a warning for the contact.
Gary Paffett was the next best placed Mercedes driver in eighth ahead of Wittmann, who was able to capitalise on the early incidents, having started down in 15th, with Mortara rounding out the top ten.
Nico Müller was 11th, having been involved on the restart incident on lap 11, which saw Loïc Duval lock up going into turn two, collecting both Lucas Auer and Augusto Farfus in the process.
Farfus was able to rejoin the race, along with Auer, with the Brazilian finishing in 12th ahead of the current points leader, as the pair were unable to recover from the accident.
Maro Engel opted to be the last to pit on lap 31, as the Team SILBERFEIL Energy was running as high as fourth ahead of Rockenfeller, before dropping down the order to take 14th.
Duval would be the last of the classified finishers in 15th, ahead of three retirees, the first of which being Maxime Martin on lap 7, which brought out the Safety Car.
Martin was unable to avoid Blomqvist, who clashed doors with Engel, as the Belgian parked his car on the outside of turn three, as well as being investigated by race control for “unsportsmanlike behaviour.”
Blomqvist would also retire on lap 25, as a result of the damage to his M4 DTM, whilst Robert Wickens suffered a left front puncture on lap 11, forcing him to retire as a result damage suffered to the underside of his C63 AMG Coupé.
The final free practice session for the DTM at the Hungaroring takes place tomorrow morning at 1000 local time, lasting for 30 minutes.
Race result
POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
1 | 3 | Paul DI RESTA | Mercedes-AMG Motorsport SILBERPFEIL Energy | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 35 | 57:52.984 | 1:38.482 | 13 | |
2 | 16 | Timo GLOCK | BMW Team RMR | BMW M4 DTM | 35 | 1.393 | 1:38.814 | 14 | |
3 | 7 | Bruno SPENGLER | BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 35 | 4.598 | 1:38.293 | 17 | |
4 | 99 | Mike ROCKENFELLER | Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 35 | 4.948 | 1:37.101 | 5 | |
5 | 5 | Mattias EKSTRÖM | Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 35 | 8.937 | 1:37.606 | 3 | |
6 | 33 | René RAST | Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 35 | 9.561 | 1:37.405 | 1 | |
7 | 53 | Jamie GREEN | Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 35 | 10.781 | 1:37.154 | 2 | |
8 | 2 | Gary PAFFETT | Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Mercedes me | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 35 | 31.014 | 1:37.603 | 9 | |
9 | 11 | Marco WITTMANN | BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 35 | 31.577 | 1:38.185 | 15 | |
10 | 48 | Edoardo MORTARA | Mercedes-AMG Motorsport BWT | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 35 | 32.651 | 1:37.739 | 16 | |
11 | 51 | Nico MÜLLER | Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 35 | 33.106 | 1:38.150 | 4 | |
12 | 15 | Augusto FARFUS | BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 35 | 35.742 | 1:37.988 | 6 | |
13 | 22 | Lucas AUER | Mercedes-AMG Motorsport BWT | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 35 | 36.780 | 1:38.225 | 8 | |
14 | 63 | Maro ENGEL | Mercedes-AMG Motorsport SILBERPFEIL Energy | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 35 | 37.760 | 1:38.008 | 18 | |
15 | 77 | Loïc DUVAL | Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 35 | 1:06.802 | 1:38.081 | 7 | |
R | 31 | Tom BLOMQVIST | BMW Team RMR | BMW M4 DTM | 26 | DNF | 1:38.923 | 10 | |
R | 6 | Robert WICKENS | Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Mercedes me | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 13 | DNF | 1:38.395 | 11 | |
R | 36 | Maxime MARTIN | BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 8 | DNF | 1:39.575 | 12 |