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Race report

Assen DTM: Wittmann sees off Audi threat in wet race

Marco Wittmann defeated Audi drivers Rene Rast and Nico Muller to take victory for BMW in a drenched Assen DTM opener.

Watch: DTM: Assen - Race 1 Highlights

Wittmann had taken pole for the race in the morning but came under immediate pressure from Rast in the race when the safety car-led first three laps ended.

The BMW driver held off Rast through the slow first sector, taking in the Haarbocht right-hander through to the De Strubben hairpin exit, before the battle came to a close when R-Motorsport driver Daniel Juncadella stopped his Aston Martin Vantage at the side of the track.

Following the safety car called to retrieve the Aston, Wittmann made a superb restart to pull a gap of over a second to Rast's Audi, and his victory hopes were given a boost when Rast ran slightly wide over the exit of the Geert Timmer Bocht chicane.

Wittmann would again come under threat, but not until the pitstop window, and it would be Muller who would prove to be a thorn in the side of the BMW driver.

Muller, the second-highest Audi driver in the standings, could only qualify sixth but climbed the order in the opening stint after overcoming Timo Glock in a tight battle that led to the BMW driver skating over the gravel at the De Strubben Hairpin.

Muller then made further progress by dispatching Pietro Fittipaldi and Loic Duval and extended his first stint right up until the 26th lap, pitting to emerge ahead of Wittmann and Rast, boosted by the pair reigniting their scrap after both drivers made their mandatory stop.

But in the torrential conditions, the outlap was made all the more challenging, and now second-placed Wittmann was able to make up a deficit of several seconds to get by before the run to the Meeuwenmeer kink and return to the lead.

Muller was able to get his tyres up to temperature before Rast could pass him and held onto second at the flag, making it two Audis on the podium.

BMW's Philipp Eng was fourth after defeating Glock late on, with the ex-Formula 1 driver battling his way back through the field after his early mistake and pulled off a stunning move around the outside of Eng earlier in the race.

WRT Audi's Jonathan Aberdein was compromised by the red flag caused by Jake Dennis in qualifying, but climbed from 10th on the grid to take sixth in the race as teammate Pietro Fittipaldi struggled in the conditions and slipped from fourth to 11th.

Jamie Green was another to rise through the field and took seventh ahead of Duval, who had impressed by qualifying third.

Mike Rockenfeller was ninth for Audi, while Sheldon van der Linde recovered to 10th after being punted into a spin at the De Strubben hairpin by BMW stablemate Bruno Spengler.

Spengler served a drive-through penalty that meant he could only finish 15th.

Local driver Robin Frijns endured a nightmare race that began with a start at the back of the field due to necessary repairs to rectify an oil pressure problem.

He climbed into the top 10 but spun off into the barriers backwards after running over a kerb, damaging the rear of the car and retiring.

Dennis was the leading R-Motorsport driver and finished 12th for the Aston Martin team ahead of Ferdinand Habsburg and Paul di Resta, who narrowly missed colliding with a hare during the race.

Session results

Cla # Driver Car Laps Time Gap
1 11 Germany Marco Wittmann
BMW M4 Turbo DTM 31 1:01'15.672
2 51 Switzerland Nico Müller
Audi RS 5 Turbo DTM 31 1:01'18.809 3.137
3 33 Germany René Rast
Audi RS 5 Turbo DTM 31 1:01'23.766 8.094
4 25 Austria Philipp Eng
BMW M4 Turbo DTM 31 1:01'40.985 25.313
5 16 Germany Timo Glock
BMW M4 Turbo DTM 31 1:01'41.206 25.534
6 27 South Africa Jonathan Aberdein
Audi RS 5 Turbo DTM 31 1:01'43.559 27.887
7 53 United Kingdom Jamie Green
Audi RS 5 Turbo DTM 31 1:01'51.750 36.078
8 28 France Loic Duval
Audi RS 5 Turbo DTM 31 1:01'58.168 42.496
9 99 Germany Mike Rockenfeller
Audi RS 5 Turbo DTM 31 1:01'59.328 43.656
10 31 South Africa Sheldon Van Der Linde
BMW M4 Turbo DTM 31 1:01'59.856 44.184
11 21 Brazil Pietro Fittipaldi
Audi RS 5 Turbo DTM 31 1:02'00.834 45.162
12 76 United Kingdom Jake Dennis
Aston Martin Vantage DTM 31 1:02'01.541 45.869
13 62 Austria Ferdinand Habsburg
Aston Martin Vantage DTM 31 1:02'03.766 48.094
14 3 United Kingdom Paul di Resta
Aston Martin Vantage DTM 31 1:02'04.589 48.917
15 7 Canada Bruno Spengler
BMW M4 Turbo DTM 31 1:02'09.050 53.378
16 47 Sweden Joel Eriksson
BMW M4 Turbo DTM 31 1:02'16.869 1'01.197
4 Netherlands Robin Frijns
Audi RS 5 Turbo DTM 21 44'39.317 10 Laps
23 Spain Daniel Juncadella
Aston Martin Vantage DTM 3 8'56.527 28 Laps

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