Starting second, Edoardo Mortara claimed the win of the first 2016 DTM race of the season ahead of Robert Wickens and Nico Müller. This race has been marked by many incidents on track.
Müller didn’t keep the advantage of his maiden DTM pole position for long as he has been overtaken by Mortara right at the start and though he was under Wickens pressure, he managed to keep his place. The Canadian, however, was overtaken by Jamie Green before the hairpin while many drivers went wide at the back of the field. Timo Scheider and Esteban Ocon touched at the hairpin and both drivers would retire later in the race. Unfortunately for the British driver, he was forced to run wide in Sachscurve and got back on track on P16.
At the back, in the last corner, Tom Blomqvist and Adrien Tambay collided, forcing the Frenchman to retire and the British to continue with a damaged car. On lap 3, Timo Glock and Daniel Juncadella also collided and ran in the gravel, ending their races. Mike Rockenfeller also came into the pits to retire with an undrivable car.
After this dramatic start which saw six drivers retiring within three laps, drivers had to keep their place with a lot of enthusiasm. Whilst Wickens overtook Müller for second place, Götz went off in the gravel at Sachscurve, causing another slow-zone in the third sector. The nightmare continued for Green who received a drive through penalty for causing an avoidable collision with Antonio Felix Da Costa.
The middle of the field stayed very packed with sometime four drivers battling for the same place. In the battle between P7 and P10, Gary Paffett is the one who lost the most after contacts with Da Costa first, and then with Lucas Auer, who started from the pit lane. Mattias Ekström got a black and white flag for forcing another driver out of the track.
Meanwhile, Auer, who had a splendid race from the pitlane to P10, had to pit to take off a piece of Paffett’s car resting on the radiators of his car, probably causing damages on the engine as he retired with five minutes to go.
Green, the unlucky of lap 1, struggled in the middle of the field, offering a great battle with Augusto Farfus, despite the fact it was for a disappointing P14. This battle kept on until the very last lap where both cars went wide but were able to finish, the Brazilian ahead of the British driver.
Edoardo Mortara claimed his fourth victory in DTM ahead of Wickens, Müller, Di Resta who overtook Christian Vietoris in the penultimate lap, Bruno Spengler, Da Costa, Maxime Martin, Ekström and Miguel Molina for the top 10.