2017 Nürburgring Race 1

2017 Nürburgring Race 1
The shorter circuit of the Nürburgring GP-Strecke
Race Information
Date	9 September 2017
No.	208
Event	DTM Nürburg 2017
Location	Nürburgring Nürburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany
Format	55 min + 1 Lap
Lap length	3.629 km (2.255 mi)
Distance	33 laps / 119.757 km (74.413 mi)
Qualifying Result
Pole Sitter	Lucas Auer
Team	Mercedes-AMG Motorsport BWT
Time	1:25.968
Fastest Lap
Driver	Nico Müller
Team	Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline
Time	1:31.420 on lap 18
Race Result
First	Second	Third
Lucas Auer	Paul di Resta	Robert Wickens
Winner Team	Mercedes-AMG Motorsport BWT
Time	54:12.443
Race Guide
Previous		Next
2017 Zandvoort Race 2		2017 Nürburgring Race 2

The 2017 Nürburgring Race 1, otherwise known as the DTM Nürburg 2017 Race 1, was the thirteenth race of the 2017 DMSB Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters Championship, held on the Sprint Circuit at the Nürburgring in Nürburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, on 9 September 2017. The race would see Lucas Auer sweep to his third win of the campaign for Mercedes, as mid-race rain shuffled the field.

Ahead of the race weekend there were more rumblings about the success-ballast rules, which were to remain in force throughout the trip to Nürburg. Indeed, all three manufacturers would make statements about scraping the system, only for Audi to be reported as having vetoed its abolishment at the previous round in Zandvoort.

Into the Nürburgring weekend itself and rain would have an effect throughout Saturday's running, with a wet-dry qualifying session seeing Auer emerge on pole ahead of Marco Wittmann. Furthermore, the session would be dominated by both Mercedes and BMW, leaving René Rast as the best placed Audi in eighth, bemoaning just weight and the conditions for their lack of outright pace.

The field initially assembled on the grid armed with slick Hankook tyres, although rain while they were on the grid resulted in an en-masse swap to wets for the start. Amid a light drizzle the race would start, with Augusto Farfus streaking into the lead from fourth on the grid, while Paul di Resta jumped Wittmann for third behind Auer.

The race soon settled down as the rain intensified, with Mattias Ekström picking his way up to seventh in the early laps. Out front, meanwhile, Farfus would hold the lead ahead of Auer and di Resta without issue, while Maro Engel tangled with Rast at turn two and allowed Gary Paffett to pass them both.

After a heavy period the rain stopped completely, and the late-summer heat around the Eifel Mountains ensured that the circuit began to dry at a rapid pace. By lap sixteen Tom Blomqvist, Mike Rockenfeller and Nico Müller judged the circuit to be dry enough for slicks, with Wittmann leading Paffett in a lap later.

The gamble worked particularly well for Paffett, who jumped Maxime Martin during the stops, before dancing past Farfus when the Brazilian rejoined from his stop. Martin, meanwhile, would slide off the circuit at turn one, with rain returning the circuit to cause those on slicks a major headache.

That ultimately decided the race, for Auer, di Resta and Robert Wickens would stay out on wets, and duly took another set with the rain returning to complete their mandatory stops. They duly entered a three-way truel for the lead in the closing stages of the race, before Mercedes themselves intervened, instructing di Resta to let Auer through.

With that the race was run, with Auer sweeping to victory ahead of di Resta, while Wickens completed an all-Mercedes podium in third. Engel was next up ahead of Rast after their early grudge-match, while Jamie Green fended off Edoardo Mortara for sixth. Farfus was next up having switched back to wets, with Wittmann and Paffett trailing him to complete the scorers.

Background

Mattias Ekström had moved back into the Championship lead after his inherited podium finish, despite having yet to claim a victory in 2017. René Rast had made for him and slipped fourteen off the lead in Zandvoort, while Mike Rockenfeller was up to third with 110 points to his credit. Timo Glock was next up ahead of Maxime Martin, with Lucas Auer in sixth, level on 99 points with Jamie Green.

Audi Team Rosberg would leave Zandvoort still with the lead in the Teams' Championship, moving onto 213 points. Audi Team Abt were their closest challengers in second, while BMW Team RBM were in third with 164 points. In the Manufacturers' Championship Audi had opened out their advantage to 113 points ahead of BMW, while Mercedes were 44 points further back in third.

Entry List

The full entry list for the 2017 Nürburgring Race 1 is displayed below:

2017 Nürburgring Race 1 Entry List
No.	Name	Entrant	Constructor	Chassis	Engine	Weight
2	Gary Paffett	Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Me	Mercedes	AMG C63 DTM	AMG 4.0l V8	1,122.5 kg
3	Paul di Resta	Mercedes-AMG SILBERPFEIL Energy	Mercedes	AMG C63 DTM	AMG 4.0l V8	1,122.5 kg
5	Mattias Ekström	Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline	Audi	RS5 DTM	Audi 4.0l V8	1,132.5 kg
6	Robert Wickens	Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Me	Mercedes	AMG C63 DTM	AMG 4.0l V8	1,122.5 kg
7	Bruno Spengler	BMW Team RBM	BMW	M4 DTM	P66/1 4.0l V8	1,107.5 kg
11	Marco Wittmann	BMW Team RMG	BMW	M4 DTM	P66/1 4.0l V8	1,107.5 kg
15	Augusto Farfus	BMW Team RMG	BMW	M4 DTM	P66/1 4.0l V8	1,107.5 kg
16	Timo Glock	BMW Team RMR	BMW	M4 DTM	P66/1 4.0l V8	1,107.5 kg
22	Lucas Auer	Mercedes-AMG Motorsport BWT	Mercedes	AMG C63 DTM	AMG 4.0l V8	1,122.5 kg
31	Tom Blomqvist	BMW Team RMR	BMW	M4 DTM	P66/1 4.0l V8	1,107.5 kg
33	René Rast	Audi Sport Team Rosberg	Audi	RS5 DTM	Audi 4.0l V8	1,132.5 kg
36	Maxime Martin	BMW Team RBM	BMW	M4 DTM	P66/1 4.0l V8	1,107.5 kg
48	Edoardo Mortara	Mercedes-AMG Motorsport BWT	Mercedes	AMG C63 DTM	AMG 4.0l V8	1,122.5 kg
51	Nico Müller	Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline	Audi	RS5 DTM	Audi 4.0l V8	1,132.5 kg
53	Jamie Green	Audi Sport Team Rosberg	Audi	RS5 DTM	Audi 4.0l V8	1,132.5 kg
63	Maro Engel	Mercedes-AMG SILBERPFEIL Energy	Mercedes	AMG C63 DTM	AMG 4.0l V8	1,122.5 kg
77	Loïc Duval	Audi Sport Team Phoenix	Audi	RS5 DTM	Audi 4.0l V8	1,132.5 kg
99	Mike Rockenfeller	Audi Sport Team Phoenix	Audi	RS5 DTM	Audi 4.0l V8	1,132.5 kg
Source:

Qualifying

Results

The final qualifying result for the 2017 Nürburgring Race 1 are outlined below:

2017 Nürburgring Race 1 Qualifying Result
Pos.	No.	Name	Team	Time	Gap	Ave. Speed	Grid
1st	22	Lucas Auer	Mercedes-AMG BWT	1:25.968	—	151.968 km/h	1
2nd	11	Marco Wittmann	BMW Team RMG	1:26.067	+0.099s	151.793 km/h	2
3rd	6	Robert Wickens	Mercedes-AMG Me	1:26.378	+0.410s	151.246 km/h	3
4th	15	Augusto Farfus	BMW Team RMG	1:26.484	+0.516s	151.061 km/h	4
5th	3	Paul di Resta	Mercedes-AMG Silberpfeil	1:26.912	+0.944s	150.317 km/h	5
6th	31	Tom Blomqvist	BMW Team RMR	1:27.044	+1.076s	150.089 km/h	6
7th	33	René Rast	Audi Team Rosberg	1:27.062	+1.094s	150.058 km/h	7
8th	16	Timo Glock	BMW Team RMR	1:27.191	+1.223s	149.836 km/h	8
9th	63	Maro Engel	Mercedes-AMG Silberpfeil	1:27.270	+1.302s	149.700 km/h	9
10th	36	Maxime Martin	BMW Team RBM	1:27.446	+1.478s	149.399 km/h	10
11th	5	Mattias Ekström	Audi Team Abt	1:27.682	+1.714s	148.997 km/h	11
12th	99	Mike Rockenfeller	Audi Team Phoenix	1:27.760	+1.792s	148.865 km/h	12
13th	2	Gary Paffett	Mercedes-AMG Me	1:27.842	+1.874s	148.726 km/h	13
14th	53	Jamie Green	Audi Team Rosberg	1:28.112	+2.144s	148.270 km/h	14
15th	7	Bruno Spengler	BMW Team RBM	1:28.206	+2.238s	148.112 km/h	15
16th*	48	Edoardo Mortara	Mercedes-AMG BWT	1:28.338	+2.370s	147.891 km/h	18*
17th	51	Nico Müller	Audi Team Abt	1:28.625	+2.657s	147.412 km/h	16
18th	77	Loïc Duval	Audi Team Phoenix	1:29.274	+3.306s	146.340 km/h	17
Source:

• Bold indicates a driver's best/qualifying time.
• * Mortara served a five place grid penalty for impeding other drivers at the previous round.

Grid

	Pos.	Pos.
	Driver	Driver
	______________
Row 1	1	______________
	Lucas Auer	2
	______________	Marco Wittmann
Row 2	3	______________
	Robert Wickens	4
	______________	Augusto Farfus
Row 3	5	______________
	Paul di Resta	6
	______________	Tom Blomqvist
Row 4	7	______________
	René Rast	8
	______________	Timo Glock
Row 5	9	______________
	Maro Engel	10
	______________	Maxime Martin
Row 6	11	______________
	Mattias Ekström	12
	______________	Mike Rockenfeller
Row 7	13	______________
	Gary Paffett	14
	______________	Jamie Green
Row 8	15	______________
	Bruno Spengler	16
	______________	Nico Müller
Row 9	17	______________
	Loïc Duval	18
	______________	Edoardo Mortara

Race

Results

The final classification of the 2017 Nürburgring Race 1 is displayed below:

2017 Nürburgring Race 1 Result
Pos.	No.	Name	Team	Laps	Race Time	Fastest lap	Pts.
1st	22	Lucas Auer	Mercedes-AMG BWT	33	54:12.443	1:35.041	253
2nd	3	Paul di Resta	Mercedes-AMG Silberpfeil	33	+0.794s	1:34.911	18
3rd	6	Robert Wickens	Mercedes-AMG Me	33	+1.568s	1:35.312	151
4th	63	Maro Engel	Mercedes-AMG Silberpfeil	33	+5.344s	1:35.309	12
5th	33	René Rast	Audi Team Rosberg	33	+9.758s	1:36.037	10
6th	53	Jamie Green	Audi Team Rosberg	33	+24.531s	1:35.158	8
7th	48	Edoardo Mortara	Mercedes-AMG BWT	33	+31.593s	1:36.060	6
8th	15	Augusto Farfus	BMW Team RMG	33	+49.335s	1:35.425	4
9th	11	Marco Wittmann	BMW Team RMG	33	+56.886s	1:32.748	22
10th	2	Gary Paffett	Mercedes-AMG Me	33	+59.072s	1:32.809	1
11th	51	Nico Müller	Audi Team Abt	33	+1:01.058	1:31.420
12th	16	Timo Glock	BMW Team RMR	33	+1:12.977	1:32.161
13th	7	Bruno Spengler	BMW Team RBM	33	+1:27.191	1:33.236
14th	99	Mike Rockenfeller	Audi Team Phoenix	33	+1:28.308	1:32.490
15th	5	Mattias Ekström	Audi Team Abt	32	+1 Lap	1:34.978
16th	31	Tom Blomqvist	BMW Team RMR	32	+1 Lap	1:31.823
17th	36	Maxime Martin	BMW Team RBM	32	+1 Lap	1:35.917
18th	77	Loïc Duval	Audi Team Phoenix	32	+1 Lap	1:33.865
Source:

• ³ Indicates a driver was awarded points for qualifying in the top three.
• Bold indicates a driver started from pole.
• Italics indicate that a driver set fastest lap.

Milestones

• Fourth career victory for Lucas Auer.

Standings

The Championship battle had tightened up after the first fight around the Nürburgring, although Mattias Ekström would still head the charge on 128 points. Saturday race winner Lucas Auer had demolished the Swede's advantage to just a single point, having leapt from sixth to second, while René Rast had slipped to third but moved to within four of the leader. Mike Rockenfeller, meanwhile, had failed to score and slipped to fourth, while Jamie Green had inched closer to the fight as he moved into fifth.

In the Teams' Championship Audi Team Rosberg had enhanced their advantage at the head of the hunt, moving onto 231 points for the season. Audi Team Abt hence held second on 177, while Mercedes-AMG BWT had moved into third after a strong afternoon, moving onto 174 points. Audi, meanwhile, had seen their lead reduced at the head of the Manufacturers' Championship, while Mercedes' biggest points haul of the season had moved them back into second ahead of BMW.

2017 Drivers' Championship Pos. Name Pts. +/- 1st Mattias Ekström 128 ◄0 2nd Lucas Auer 127 ▲4 3rd René Rast 124 ▼1 4th Mike Rockenfeller 110 ▼1 5th Jamie Green 107 ▲2 6th Timo Glock 104 ▼2 7th Maxime Martin 102 ▼2 8th Marco Wittmann 97 ◄0 9th Paul di Resta 77 ▲2 10th Gary Paffett 76 ▼1 11th Robert Wickens 74 ▲1 12th Bruno Spengler 62 ▼2 13th Nico Müller 49 ◄0 14th Edoardo Mortara 47 ◄0 15th Maro Engel 41 ◄0 16th Augusto Farfus 27 ◄0 17th Tom Blomqvist 21 ◄0 18th Loïc Duval 18 ◄0

2017 Teams' Championship Pos. Name Pts. +/- 1st Audi Team Rosberg 231 ◄0 2nd Audi Team Abt 177 ◄0 3rd Mercedes-AMG BWT 174 ▲1 4th BMW Team RBM 164 ▼1 5th Mercedes-AMG Me 150 ◄0 6th Audi Team Phoenix 128 ◄0 7th BMW Team RMR 125 ◄0 8th BMW Team RMG 124 ◄0 9th Mercedes-AMG Silberpfeil 118 ◄0 2017 Manufacturers' Championship Pos. Name Pts. +/- 1st Audi 536 ◄0 2nd Mercedes 442 ▲1 3rd BMW 413 ▼1

Only point scoring drivers are shown.

References

Images and Videos:

References: