Paul Di Resta became the first ever winner of a night race in the 34-year-history of the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters, as the Mercedes driver kept his cool under the floodlights at Misano to take his third win of the season.
The Scot took a maximum 28 points after a clean sweep to close to within just one point of points leader Gary Paffett, as the Misano World Circuit bared witness to multiple incidents that left several drivers out of the running.
Audi Sport’s Robin Frijns fought hard with Mercedes’ Edoardo Mortara for the runner-up spot, with the Dutch driver getting his way past for second on the last lap, having started from 12th place to secure his maiden DTM podium. Mortara was in the running for the lead, but would have to settle for the last step of the podium.
Loïc Duval took his best finish of the season in fourth, with Nico Müller making it three from Ingolstadt in the top five, as the Swiss driver finished just 3.6 seconds off the eventual race winner.
Timo Glock also was involved in several battles, but would take another welcome top ten finish is seventh, ahead of Philipp Eng, who was battling for the lead of the race with Di Resta, could not hold off the closing opposition.
The Austrian would suffer damage to the right rear of his M4 DTM, following contact between himself and Duval after the second Safety Car restart.
Marco Wittmann would suffer drama himself by going off at turn 14 on lap four, along with being spun out by Frijns early on, but would recover to take ninth place, ahead of Audi Sport Team Phoenix’s Mike Rockenfeller, with the 2013 champion completing the top ten.
Augusto Farfus missed out on another top ten finish, finishing ten seconds behind Rockenfeller. Joel Eriksson would be handed a drive-through penalty for his late race clash with Duval, with guest driver Alex Zanardi keeping out of trouble to be the last of the classified finishers in 13th place.
Paffett was the first of several casualties, as the Briton rejoined the track at turn eight after a hefty lock up and clashed with Mortara, breaking the steering on the left side, bringing out the Safety Car for the first time.
Lucas Auer also retired, having had contact with Joel Eriksson, which brought out the second Safety Car phase, as the Austrian’s Mercedes was parked onto the racing line.
Team Rosberg’s Jamie Green and René Rast collided with each other after the second Indy-style restart, which also collected BMW’s Bruno Spengler, who parked his car near to the stricken Mercedes of Paffett.
Daniel Juncadella would also suffer drama, as the Spaniard was forced to park his C63 Coupé with five laps remaining, following electrical dramas that saw all exterior lights entiguished.
Post-race, both Frijns and Rockenfeller would receive 1000 Euro fines for having left their vehicles without the steering wheels being put back into place.
Final free practice for the Misano race weekend gets underway at 1640 CEST (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 | 32 | 56:55.841 | 1:31.347 | 1 |
| 2 | 4 | Robin FRIJNS |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 32 | 1.973 | 1:31.089 | 12 |
| 3 | 48 | Edoardo MORTARA |  |
SILBERPFEIL Energy Mercedes-AMG Motorsport | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 32 | 2.144 | 1:31.205 | 2 |
| 4 | 28 | Loïc DUVAL |  |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 32 | 2.931 | 1:30.919 | 14 |
| 5 | 51 | Nico MÜLLER |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 32 | 3.663 | 1:31.035 | 11 |
| 6 | 94 | Pascal WEHRLEIN |  |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport PETRONAS | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 32 | 8.826 | 1:31.300 | 8 |
| 7 | 16 | Timo GLOCK | |
BMW Team RMR | BMW M4 DTM | 32 | 13.624 | 1:31.322 | 5 |
| 8 | 25 | Philipp ENG |  |
BMW Team RMR | BMW M4 DTM | 32 | 14.390 | 1:31.150 | 18 |
| 9 | 11 | Marco WITTMANN | |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 32 | 17.398 | 1:31.113 | 15 |
| 10 | 99 | Mike ROCKENFELLER | |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 32 | 21.447 | 1:31.965 | 7 |
| 11 | 15 | Augusto FARFUS |  |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 32 | 31.483 | 1:30.288 | 9 |
| 12 | 47 | Joel ERIKSSON |  |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 32 | 44.200 | 1:31.283 | 16 |
| 13 | 12 | Alessandro ZANARDI | |
BMW Team RMR | BMW M4 DTM | 32 | 1:14.633 | 1:32.301 | 19 |
| 14 | 23 | Daniel JUNCADELLA |  |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport REMUS | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 27 | + 5 LAPS | 1:31.196 | 10 |
| R | 33 | René RAST | |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 14 | DNF | 1:36.836 | 3 |
| R | 7 | Bruno SPENGLER |  |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 12 | DNF | 1:36.072 | 13 |
| R | 53 | Jamie GREEN | |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 12 | DNF | 1:36.650 | 17 |
| R | 22 | Lucas AUER | |
SILBERPFEIL Energy Mercedes-AMG Motorsport | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 12 | DNF | 1:40.036 | 6 |
| R | 2 | Gary PAFFETT | |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport PETRONAS | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 7 | DNF | 1:41.803 | 4 |