Reining DTM Champion Marco Wittmann lead home a historic BMW Motorsport top seven during race one at Zandvoort, a first ever in the history of DTM.
Wittmann, driver of the #1 BMW Team RMG M4 DTM, lead home the #13 of Antonio Felix da Costa, with Wittmann’s RMG team mate Maxime Martin coming home third, with the top three covered by 2.2 seconds.
For Augusto Farfus, who started on pole, his result should have been a top three finish, although the Brazilian was passed by the top three after a bad start. Following Farfus was Bruno Spengler and his BMW Team MTEK team mate Timo Glock, with Tom Blomqvist coming home in seventh.
The only BMW driver not to finish in the top seven was Martin Tomczyk, who suffered a technical issue early on.
The best of the rest was Audi’s Mike Rockenfeller in his Audi RS5 DTM, with his Audi Sport partner Nico Muller finishing in ninth, eight seconds back from Wittmann. Completing the top ten was the gooix Mercedes-AMG C 63 DTM of Pascal Wehrlein completing the top ten, all of which were covered by ten seconds.
In eleventh was 2005 champion Garry Paffett, with the Euronics-backed driver finishing eleventh after running fifth for the majority of the race, with the Brit going off track whilst battling for fourth, going from 3.5 seconds back to eleventh at the chequered.
Other dramas in the race involved two other Mercedes, with Paul di Resta going off early on during the initial start, with Robert Wickens also retiring during the last segment due to damage to his car after contact.
“It feels awesome to be back on the top step of the podium. I am incredibly happy,” said winner Wittmann. “That is not only a great success for me, but for the team and everyone at BMW Motorsport.
“I think this result will give us a massive boost for the rest of the season. We all needed exactly that kind of result after the problems we have had at the start of the season.”
Jens Marquardt, BMW Motorsport Director, commented: “That is obviously an absolute dream result. After a superb qualifying, we were able to take full advantage of the good starting position. Marco Wittmann got off to a great start and had a great race.
The same goes for António Félix da Costa, with the best DTM race of his career, and Tom Blomqvist, who scored his first DTM points. However, all the drivers did a great job today. Only Martin Tomczyk was unlucky and failed to finish due to a technical problem. We had not bargained on this kind of historic result. Above all, it was a team performance – and is good for everyone after recent weeks. However, we know not to get too carried away with this result.
“We cannot solve all the problems overnight. Zandvoort suits us, and the weight situation certainly helped. This season has shown how quickly things can change in the DTM. However, it does suggest that all our hard work is taking us in the right direction. And it feels great to see the spirit within our team. We will need that over the coming months. We are now looking ahead to tomorrow, and hoping for a good result.”