Pascal Wehrlein strikes back in Moscow – Ekstrom loses points’ lead

The start of Race 1 in Moscow Whittmann takes lead

It was a nerve-wrecking affair until the final seconds. The first race at Moscow Raceway showed in an impressive way what the DTM has in store: fierce battles between the manufacturers, entertaining duels, bitter retirements and a new leader in the drivers' standings. For Pascal Wehrlein, it was a picture-perfect race. After 24 laps, the Mercedes-Benz driver crossed the finish line as the winner and with this success, he claimed back the lead in the drivers' standings. "This was a perfect day. I am surprised myself how well the car worked throughout the distance. This really was a damn good race," the buoyant winner commented. After a fierce battle, pole sitter Marco Wittmann in his BMW M4 DTM had to make do with second place from his fellow BMW driver Bruno Spengler. The Canadian managed to move up into the top three to score a podium finish in the final seconds of the race and thus prevented Audi driver Jamie Green from doing so. It wasn't the only setback the brand from Ingolstadt had to take in during the race on Saturday.

The decisive action came at the end of lap 20. Earlier on, Wehrlein had tried over and over again to move past Marco Wittmann. He showed up alongside the 25-year-old on numerous occasions, but the latter ferociously defended his position. Then it was Wehrlein's time: he hinted at making a move on the outside, only to get past on the inside in the final corner before heading onto the main straight. "I didn't want to take maximum risk, but I tried all the time to keep Marco under massive pressure. Then, I was able to catch him by surprise by making that move," Wehrlein reported. Mattias Ekstrom was the very reason why the young Mercedes-Benz driver initially avoided taking full risk. The leader in the drivers' standings had closed up to Timo Glock's BMW on lap eleven and got ready to overtake his opponent in the battle for fourth place. Glock, however, closed the door on him, which caused a heavy crash and retirement for both drivers. "I was quicker and wanted to make an easy move to pass him, but Timo didn't leave me any room," Ekstrom said. Glock, on the other hand, was lost for words and ranted on the radio: "What the hell did he do?"

Wehrlein with trophy

While Ekstrom's and Glock's cars were being recovered, the race initially went on behind the safety car. At that stage in the race, it had been deployed for the second time already. After all, the 40-minutes' race had started with a bang. Just after the start, Miguel Molina with his Audi RS 5 DTM tangled with the BMW driven by Tom Blomqvist, who had had a poor start. While the Brit was able to continue, the Spaniard's car spun. As by a miracle, almost the entire field of drivers managed to avoid the swerving Audi in the first corner. Christian Vietoris failed to do so and wasn't able to avoid the collision due to poor visibility. The impact was heavy, but both drivers escaped unscathed. Subsequently, the safety car had to stay out on track for six laps to allow for the track to be cleaned up. The long interruptions in the first half of the race weren't particularly helpful for Wittmann: "I had planned to pull clear from the drivers behind me in the early stages of the race. Of course, the safety car prevented me from doing so. Eventually, Pascal was simply too fast. I defended my position with all I had, but in these conditions, I didn't have a chance."

Instead of countering against Wehrlein's attack, last year's champion became a target for third-placed Jamie Green in the final laps of the race. In his Audi, the Brit closed up to the rear end of Wittmann's car more and more and was set to overtake the BMW. On the final lap of the race, however, it was a totally different affair. On the final straight before start and finish, Bruno Spengler suddenly mounted a challenge and almost effortlessly made his way past the Brit. Spengler: "That really was a great joy. On the final lap, Jamie had made a couple of mistakes, which allowed me to close up to him. Before the final corner of the race, I made use of my DRS and got past."

After the first day of racing at Moscow, Wehrlein has already been able to turn his pre-race announcement of claiming back the points that went amiss at Spielberg on the track, into reality. With 119 points, the 21-year-old is now leading the drivers' standings. Ekstrom is second with 111 points. Following his sixth place in the race, Edoardo Mortara is third with 106 points. On Sunday, the thrilling battle for the DTM crown will be entering its next round.

RESULTS after 24 LAPS