Paul Di Resta helped his championship hopes for the 2018 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters season by winning from lights out to checkered flag, as the Scot would lead a Stuttgart 1-2 ahead of stablemate Lucas Auer, with the duo being separated by 0.587 seconds at the finish.
Audi Sport’s Nico Müller would finally end his points drought for the season, as the Swiss driver managed to fend off the rapid charge of defending champion René Rast for the final step of the podium.
Di Resta and Müller would have the slightest of contact in the battle for what would end up being the lead going into Turn 1 on lap 12, where the Scot went round the outside of the Audi driver, but both remained virtually unscathed.
Gary Paffett would take the lead in the points standings for the first time this year, as the Briton would finish sixth behind Edoardo Mortara, putting him seven points ahead of Timo Glock, who would end up in 14th place at the finish.
Robin Frijns would be part of a three-strong Audi battle in the closing stages, as the Dutchman was able to get past both Loïc Duval and a struggling Jamie Green.
The Dutchman opted to pit on lap 25, putting him on fresher rubber, which allowed him to pass the Ingolstadt pair just a handful of laps from the end.
Multiple battles occurred during the last ten minutes of the race, which also happened to include Daniel Juncadella and Mike Rockenfeller. A clash between the pair on the last lap was under investigation, but no decision has been made thus far.
Juncadella would still hold onto tenth place at the finish, just 0.405 seconds ahead of the 2013 champion.
It was a day for BMW Motorsport to clearly forget, as the best performer of the brand was Bruno Spengler, who crossed the start/finish line in 12th, almost three seconds clear of Pascal Wehrlein.
Glock, along with the remainder of the BMW ranks, would not be able to make it into the points, with the former points leader having struggles with the significant increase in track temperatures, which reached over 43 degrees Celsius.
Augusto Farfus, who qualified eighth, would finish behind Glock, with Marco Wittmann, Joel Eriksson and Philipp Eng completing the finishing order.
Final free practice for the DTM race weekend at the Hungaroring gets underway at 0830 local time (BST + 1 hour), lasting for 30 minutes.
Race result
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 3 | Paul DI RESTA |  |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport REMUS | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 35 | 57:13.199 | 1:39.194 | 1 |
| 2 | 22 | Lucas AUER |  |
SILBERPFEIL Energy Mercedes-AMG Motorsport | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 35 | 0.587 | 1:38.812 | 3 |
| 3 | 51 | Nico MÜLLER |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 35 | 2.236 | 1:39.251 | 2 |
| 4 | 33 | René RAST |  |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 35 | 2.898 | 1:38.882 | 4 |
| 5 | 48 | Edoardo MORTARA |  |
SILBERPFEIL Energy Mercedes-AMG Motorsport | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 35 | 6.695 | 1:39.607 | 5 |
| 6 | 2 | Gary PAFFETT | |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport PETRONAS | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 35 | 12.166 | 1:38.971 | 9 |
| 7 | 4 | Robin FRIJNS |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 35 | 15.009 | 1:38.826 | 14 |
| 8 | 28 | Loïc DUVAL |  |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 35 | 22.754 | 1:39.296 | 11 |
| 9 | 53 | Jamie GREEN | |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 35 | 25.829 | 1:39.120 | 7 |
| 10 | 23 | Daniel JUNCADELLA |  |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport REMUS | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 35 | 26.844 | 1:39.837 | 6 |
| 11 | 99 | Mike ROCKENFELLER | |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 35 | 27.249 | 1:39.268 | 18 |
| 12 | 7 | Bruno SPENGLER |  |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 35 | 34.140 | 1:39.468 | 10 |
| 13 | 94 | Pascal WEHRLEIN | |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport PETRONAS | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 35 | 37.007 | 1:39.592 | 12 |
| 14 | 16 | Timo GLOCK | |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 35 | 38.689 | 1:39.109 | 16 |
| 15 | 15 | Augusto FARFUS |  |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 35 | 39.001 | 1:40.113 | 8 |
| 16 | 11 | Marco WITTMANN | |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 35 | 39.510 | 1:39.709 | 13 |
| 17 | 47 | Joel ERIKSSON |  |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 35 | 40.534 | 1:39.954 | 15 |
| 18 | 25 | Philipp ENG | |
BMW Team RMR | BMW M4 DTM | 35 | 46.994 | 1:40.112 | 17 |