The sun was on full power, when the fifth round of the DTM was run at Hungaroring near Budapest.
Paul di Resta had grabbed Pole Position ahead of Nico Müller, Lucas Auer and returnee Rene Rast.
We had to go all the way back to P8 to find the fastest BMW, with Augusto Farfus. Championship leader Timo Glock was all the way back in P16.
Di Resta closed the door on Müller, while it almost worked out for Auer to grab second, but not quite.
Photo: JJ Media
Bruno Spengler, Jamie Green and Philipp Eng dived into the pits already on Lap 1 for their mandatory pitstop, to do something alternatively, compared to the rest of the field. Glock and Joel Eriksson pitted one lap later, and rejoined between Spengler and Eng.
Lucas Auer pitted on the 6th lap of the race, which made Edoardo Mortara take over P3.
That gave initial bonus, since di Resta only rejoined right ahead of Auer after the Scottsman’s pitstop, but was overtaken due to cold tires.
Nico Müller had a fast pitstop, and made it out in front. But he had the same issue with cold tires, which only got worse by blocked wheels on Müller going into Turn 1.
Paul di Resta made it past Müller on the following lap and started to hunt down Lucas Auer in the lead.
Photo: JJ Media
Gary Paffett had a bad day at the office, too, since he was all the way back in the real P9 following his pit stop. He was however in front of Timo Glock, who was his worst enemy in the Championship.
Paffett tried to work his way through the field, first by overtaking teammate Pascal Wehrlein and then going after Bruno Spengler.
Daniel Juncadella and Timo Glock had a battle over several laps, where the former managed to sneak by the German – but not without driving side by side through several corners.
Paul di Resta made it way past Lucas Auer with just under 20 minutes left of the race. There were however suggestions that di Resta made it past Auer a bit too easily, and it was down to team orders. But no matter what, there was no reaction from Race Control.
Rene Rast closed in on Nico Müller, where the five laps newer tires on Rast’s car made quite a difference.
Loic Duval had started the race from P11, but he was one of the last to pit, and was able to overtake Robin Frijns and Jamie Green with ease.
But out in front there was nobody would could touch Paul di Resta, who took the victory ahead of Lucas Auer and Nico Müller.
It was a good mix of Mercedes and Audi cars out front. We had to look all the way back to P12 to find the best BMW! They were way off the pace in today’s race, and could only hope for better luck in the Sunday race.
