Despite René Rast being on pole position, Dutchman Robin Frijns had the superior start and took the lead immediately with Nico Müller close on both of their tails. The hard-won lead didn’t last long though as Loïc Duval and Timo Glock‘s battle resulted in a large piece of Glock’s car falling off onto the track meaning that the safety car was deployed for the first of three times in this race.
After the indy style restart, Frijns got away and had to build his lead again. Müller suffered being in the middle of the pack and was spun by Jamie Green, soon after Duval lost it and went nose into the tyre wall leading to the second appearance by the safety car.
On the second restart of the race, Frijns once again began building up his lead and there was a fierce battle between Rast, Marco Wittman and Phillip Eng with Rast managing to pull ahead of the others before a collision involving the Audis of Duval and Fabio Scherer led to both drivers having to retire and the safety car making it’s third and final appearance. All drivers had made good use of the safety car periods to complete their mandatory pit stops.
This last part of the race went without too much drama apart from the short battle between Green, Mike Rockenfella and Glock in which Rockenfella was forced off the track and onto the grass to avoid a big crash. Frijns kept Rast at arm’s length and came home to take the win for the second race in a row.
“It was pretty nerve-racking in the car today,” said Frijns after his narrow victory ahead of title defender Rast. “Every time I had built up a lead, the safety car came out. When René was directly behind me for the final laps and was able to use Push-to-Pass and DRS all the time, I knew that I couldn’t afford the slightest mistake. My car was great and the key to victory today was my good start.”
“Wow, what a race!” said Head of Audi Motorsport, Dieter Gass. “Robin was outstanding today. He didn’t have a single Push-to-Pass or DRS and still managed to stay in front. That was an extremely strong performance and he also made zero mistakes with all the safety cars and restarts. Fantastic! With second place, René made it a perfect 1-2 victory for Audi. That Nico managed to finish fifth, after being turned around, was mega.”
DTM Nürburgring sprint circuit Race 1 Results
| Driver | Team | Time/Gap |
| ROBIN FRIJNS | AUDI SPORT TEAM ABT SPORTSLINE | 59:51.551 |
| RENÉ RAST | AUDI SPORT TEAM ROSBERG | 0.66 |
| MARCO WITTMANN | BMW TEAM RMG | 1.573 |
| PHILIPP ENG | BMW TEAM RBM | 2.984 |
| NICO MÜLLER | AUDI SPORT TEAM ABT SPORTSLINE | 4.743 |
| JONATHAN ABERDEIN | BMW TEAM RMR | 5.211 |
| FERDINAND HABSBURG | WRT TEAM AUDI SPORT | 8.513 |
| SHELDON VAN DER LINDE | BMW TEAM RBM | 8.846 |
| MIKE ROCKENFELLER | AUDI SPORT TEAM PHOENIX | 14.97 |
| TIMO GLOCK | BMW TEAM RMG | 17.292 |
| HARRISON NEWEY | WRT TEAM AUDI SPORT | 17.9 |
| LUCAS AUER | BMW TEAM RMR | 19.353 |
| ROBERT KUBICA | ORLEN TEAM ART (ART GRAND PRIX) | 37.027 |
| JAMIE GREEN | AUDI SPORT TEAM ROSBERG | 6L |
| FABIO SCHERER | WRT TEAM AUDI SPORT | DNC |
| LOÏC DUVAL | AUDI SPORT TEAM PHOENI | DNC |
