Joel Eriksson takes his first win in the DTM as Alex Zanardi hits the top five

BMW Team RBM driver Joel Eriksson played a strategic masterclass in difficult conditions at Misano to score his first victory in the series. The race was full of action and incidents, with BMW’s guest driver Alex Zanardi braving the conditions and also maximising on strategy to go from last on the grid to fifth at the chequered flag.

Tyre strategy was again key ahead of the start of the race, with rain having fallen ahead of the start of the race, with a mixture of wets and slicks chosen throughout the field, with the Hankook wet tyre proving to be the tyre to have at the start.

Pole-sitter Loïc Duval in his Audi Sport Team Phoenix RS 5 DTM stalled at the start, with HWA Mercedes-AMG drivers Edoardo Mortara and Daniel Juncadella moving ahead of Duval, followed by BMW Team RMR’s Timo Glock an Audi Sport Team Rosberg’s René Rast.

HWA driver Paul di Resta received a warning for running Audi’s Robin Frijns off track in the early stages, with the Scot already up to seventh place, ahead of championship rival and team-mate Gary Paffett.

Di Resta passed Frijns for fourth place and challenged Audi’s Nico Müller for third, overtaking him Turn 11 on lap six. The Swiss then driver came to the pits at the end of the lap, with Duval and Di Resta following suit on the following lap.

Rain started falling on Misano again on lap nine, with Wittmann immediately coming in for a second time to switch back to wet weather tyres, with most drivers diving back to the pits, with Mortara, Rast, Frijns and Zanardi the only drivers not to have pitted and sticking to their original wet tyres.

Juncadella spun at Turn 15, blocking the pit entrance, but the Spaniard was able to recover on his own power.

The safety car was called into action after Mercedes-AMG’s Lucas Auer spun off the track at Turn 6 on lap 11 and buried his Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM in the gravel trap. The Austrian was able to return to the pits only to retire. The race was restarted on lap 13, with cars restarting in single file instead of side-by-side for safety reasons.

Mortara charged ahead of Duval, who was sixth and a lap down after having now made two pit stops, while Augusto Farfus soon spun on the main straight and clipped the wall on the inside, but was able to continue.

Juncadella made contact with championship leader Gary Paffett at Turn 2 on lap 18, with both drivers spinning off and falling to the back of the pack. The incident was investigated and classed as a racing incident by the race director.

Zanardi was the first of the leading pack which had yet to stop to pit, doing so at the end of lap 18 and rejoining behind Eriksson, who was one of the few drivers to have stopped once for wet tyres before the safety car period. Rast pitted at the end of lap 21, coming back on track just ahead of Zanardi.

Mortara came in for his tyre change at the end of lap 24, rejoining ahead of Rast, while Frijns was the last driver left to change tyres, doing so at the end of lap 28.

Eriksson was now in the lead and, despite Mortara lapping much faster on fresher tyres, was able to convert his lead into his first victory in the DTM, with Mortara and Rast completing the podium.

Audi Sport Abt’s Robin Frijns was fourth after another solid race, with Zanardi completing a remarkable comeback to touring car racing with fifth in his second race.

Di Resta was sixth, ahead of the Audis of Duval, Jamie Green, Mike Rockenfeller and Nico Müller.

After today’s race, di Resta leads the championship on 186 points, nine points ahead of Paffett who failed to score, finishing down in 14th position. Mortara is third, 48 points adrift, with Wittmann the first non-Mercedes driver in his BMW in fourth, 74 points behind the Scot.

The next round of the championship takes place at the Nürburgring in two weeks’ time, from the 7th-9th of September.