2018 Nürburgring Race 1

2018 Nürburgring Race 1
The shorter circuit of the Nürburgring GP-Strecke
Race Information
Date	8 September 2018
No.	228
Event	DTM Nürburg 2018
Location	Nürburgring Nürburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany
Format	55 min + 1 Lap
Lap length	3.629 km (2.255 mi)
Distance	40 laps / 145.160 km (90.198 mi)
Qualifying Result
Pole Sitter	René Rast
Team	Audi Sport Team Rosberg
Time	1:22.203
Fastest Lap
Driver	René Rast
Team	Audi Sport Team Rosberg
Time	1:23.768 on lap 3
Race Result
First	Second	Third
René Rast	Bruno Spengler	Gary Paffett
Winner Team	Audi Sport Team Rosberg
Time	57:14.769
Race Guide
Previous		Next
2018 Misano Race 2		2018 Nürburgring Race 2

The DTM Nürburg 2018 Race 1, otherwise known as the 2018 Nürburgring Race 1, was the fifteenth round of the 2018 DMSB Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters Championship, staged at the Nürburgring in Nürburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany on 8 September 2018. The race would see René Rast secure his second victory of the campaign to ignite his bid for the title, claiming pole position and fastest lap as he did so.

Ahead of the race tyre supplier Hankook would implement a minimum tyre pressure for their tyres, in a bid to better balance alternate strategies. While BMW and Audi greeted the move, Mercedes and title pretender Gary Paffett was against the move, for the new 1.3bar (18.85 psi), was above the pressure that the Stuttgart manufacturer had been using all season.

Qualifying would result in some questioning of Mercedes' fears, for Paffett would only miss-out on pole position to Rast by 0.028s. Bruno Spengler would also get within a tenth to head the BMW charge from third, edging out Lucas Auer, with five of the Mercedes in the top ten.

The start of the race saw little change at the head of the field, with Rast escaping from Paffett, while the Brit held second from Spengler. Behind, Daniel Juncadella made the most ground to move into sixth, but was quickly re-passed by Philipp Eng, before letting Championship leader Paul di Resta through at the end of the opening tour.

The early laps saw Rast continue to escape from Paffett and Spengler, while Auer was fighting a rearguard action to resist Marco Wittmann to hold fourth. Auer eventually abandoned the defence on lap eleven to make his compulsory stop, elevating Eng and di Resta, before di Resta threw a lunge at the #25 BMW that resulted in a minor collision and a spin for the #3 Mercedes.

The fight for the lead would evolve as the stops began, with Paffett beginning to close on Rast, only for Spengler to attack him for second on lap fifteen. With those two fighting Rast decided to make his stop on lap seventeen, with Paffett following him in, while Spengler waited until lap 20.

Spengler emerged between Rast and Paffett, with the #7 BMW just managing to keep the Brit at bay as Spengler brought his tyres up to temperature. That left Mike Rockenfeller and Loïc Duval at the head of the field having yet to make their stops, although once they stopped the race was handed back to Rast.

Rast duly swept across the line to secure victory with fastest lap, as Spengler's attempts to challenge late-on faded as his tyres ran out of grip. Paffett would finish third after resisting a late challenge from nemesis Glock, while Wittmann finished a lonely fifth. Rockenfeller claimed sixth after his late charge on fresh tyres, with Pascal Wehrlein, Duval, Augusto Farfus and Nico Müller completed the scorers.

Background

Paul di Resta would leave Misano with the Championship lead, establishing a nine point advantage over former leader Gary Paffett. Edoardo Mortara was a distant third, 48 points behind, while Marco Wittmann and Lucas Auer completed the top five. Elsewhere, Timo Glock had remained in sixth ahead of René Rast, while Joel Eriksson had climbed to thirteenth with his maiden triumph.

Mercedes-AMG Petronas still led the charge in the Teams' Championship, although their advantage had been reduced to 21 points with six races to go. Mercedes-AMG Silberpfeil were their closest challengers, having moved ahead of sister squad Mercedes-AMG Remus while BMW Team RMR completed the top four. Mercedes had seen their advantage in the Manufacturers' Championship once again increase to 319 points, with BMW remaining in second and Audi a distant third.

Entry List

The full entry list for the 2018 Nürburgring Race 1 is displayed below:

2018 Nürburgring Race 1 Entry List
No.	Name	Entrant	Constructor	Chassis	Engine
2	Gary Paffett	Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Petronas	Mercedes	AMG C63 DTM	AMG 4.0l V8
3	Paul di Resta	Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Remus	Mercedes	AMG C63 DTM	AMG 4.0l V8
4	Robin Frijns	Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline	Audi	RS5 DTM	Audi 4.0l V8
7	Bruno Spengler	BMW Team RBM	BMW	M4 DTM	P66/1 4.0l V8
11	Marco Wittmann	BMW Team RMG	BMW	M4 DTM	P66/1 4.0l V8
15	Augusto Farfus	BMW Team RMG	BMW	M4 DTM	P66/1 4.0l V8
16	Timo Glock	BMW Team RMR	BMW	M4 DTM	P66/1 4.0l V8
22	Lucas Auer	Silberpfeil Energy Mercedes-AMG Motorsport	Mercedes	AMG C63 DTM	AMG 4.0l V8
23	Daniel Juncadella	Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Remus	Mercedes	AMG C63 DTM	AMG 4.0l V8
25	Philipp Eng	BMW Team RMR	BMW	M4 DTM	P66/1 4.0l V8
28	Loïc Duval	Audi Sport Team Phoenix	Audi	RS5 DTM	Audi 4.0l V8
33	René Rast	Audi Sport Team Rosberg	Audi	RS5 DTM	Audi 4.0l V8
47	Joel Eriksson	BMW Team RBM	BMW	M4 DTM	P66/1 4.0l V8
48	Edoardo Mortara	Silberpfeil Energy Mercedes-AMG Motorsport	Mercedes	AMG C63 DTM	AMG 4.0l V8
51	Nico Müller	Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline	Audi	RS5 DTM	Audi 4.0l V8
53	Jamie Green	Audi Sport Team Rosberg	Audi	RS5 DTM	Audi 4.0l V8
94	Pascal Wehrlein	Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Petronas	Mercedes	AMG C63 DTM	AMG 4.0l V8
99	Mike Rockenfeller	Audi Sport Team Phoenix	Audi	RS5 DTM	Audi 4.0l V8
Source:

Qualifying

Results

The final qualifying result for the 2018 Nürburgring Race 1 are outlined below:

2018 Nürburgring Race 1 Qualifying Result
Pos.	No.	Name	Team	Time	Gap	Ave. Speed	Grid
1st	33	René Rast	Audi Team Rosberg	1:22.203	—	158.928 km/h	1
2nd	2	Gary Paffett	Mercedes-AMG Petronas	1:22.231	+0.028s	158.874 km/h	2
3rd	7	Bruno Spengler	BMW Team RBM	1:22.281	+0.078s	158.777 km/h	3
4th	22	Lucas Auer	Mercedes-AMG Silberpfeil	1:22.337	+0.134s	158.669 km/h	4
5th	11	Marco Wittmann	BMW Team RMG	1:22.350	+0.147s	158.644 km/h	5
6th	25	Philipp Eng	BMW Team RMR	1:22.390	+0.187s	158.567 km/h	6
7th	23	Daniel Juncadella	Mercedes-AMG Remus	1:22.448	+0.245s	158.458 km/h	7
8th	3	Paul di Resta	Mercedes-AMG Remus	1:22.530	+0.327s	158.298 km/h	8
9th	94	Pascal Wehrlein	Mercedes-AMG Petronas	1:22.557	+0.354s	158.247 km/h	9
10th	15	Augusto Farfus	BMW Team RMG	1:22.570	+0.367s	158.222 km/h	10
11th	99	Mike Rockenfeller	Audi Team Phoenix	1:22.585	+0.382s	158.193 km/h	11
12th	16	Timo Glock	BMW Team RMR	1:22.604	+0.401s	158.156 km/h	12
13th	47	Joel Eriksson	BMW Team RBM	1:22.639	+0.436s	158.090 km/h	13
14th	53	Jamie Green	Audi Team Rosberg	1:22.677	+0.474s	158.017 km/h	14
15th	48	Edoardo Mortara	Mercedes-AMG Silberpfeil	1:22.913	+0.710s	157.567 km/h	15
16th	51	Nico Müller	Audi Team Abt Sportsline	1:22.918	+0.715s	157.558 km/h	16
17th*	4	Robin Frijns	Audi Team Abt Sportsline	1:23.025	+0.822s	157.355 km/h	18*
18th	28	Loïc Duval	Audi Team Phoenix	1:23.180	+0.977s	157.061 km/h	17
Source:

• Bold indicates a driver's best/qualifying time.

Grid

	Pos.	Pos.
	Driver	Driver
	______________
Row 1	1	______________
	René Rast	2
	______________	Gary Paffett
Row 2	3	______________
	Bruno Spengler	4
	______________	Lucas Auer
Row 3	5	______________
	Marco Wittmann	6
	______________	Philipp Eng
Row 4	7	______________
	Daniel Juncadella	8
	______________	Paul di Resta
Row 5	9	______________
	Pascal Wehrlein	10
	______________	Augusto Farfus
Row 6	11	______________
	Mike Rockenfeller	12
	______________	Timo Glock
Row 7	13	______________
	Joel Eriksson	14
	______________	Jamie Green
Row 8	15	______________
	Edoardo Mortara	16
	______________	Nico Müller
Row 9	17	______________
	Loïc Duval	18
	______________	Robin Frijns

Race

Results

The final classification of the 2018 Nürburgring Race 1 is displayed below:

2018 Nürburgring Race 1 Result
Pos.	No.	Name	Team	Laps	Race Time	Fastest lap	Pts.
1st	33	René Rast	Audi Team Rosberg	40	57:14.769	1:23.768	253
2nd	7	Bruno Spengler	BMW Team RBM	40	+0.862s	1:24.050	181
3rd	2	Gary Paffett	Mercedes-AMG Petronas	40	+6.862s	1:23.858	152
4th	16	Timo Glock	BMW Team RMR	40	+7.277s	1:24.048	12
5th	11	Marco Wittmann	BMW Team RMG	40	+10.048s	1:24.280	10
6th	99	Mike Rockenfeller	Audi Team Phoenix	40	+23.208s	1:24.067	8
7th	94	Pascal Wehrlein	Mercedes-AMG Petronas	40	+26.827s	1:24.596	6
8th	28	Loïc Duval	Audi Team Phoenix	40	+27.401s	1:24.342	4
9th	15	Augusto Farfus	BMW Team RMG	40	+35.685s	1:24.583	2
10th	51	Nico Müller	Audi Team Abt Sportsline	40	+36.243s	1:24.689	1
11th	22	Lucas Auer	Mercedes-AMG Silberpfeil	40	+40.143s	1:24.428
12th	47	Joel Eriksson	BMW Team RBM	40	+43.488s	1:24.595
13th	48	Edoardo Mortara	Mercedes-AMG Silberpfeil	40	+43.664s	1:25.166
14th	53	Jamie Green	Audi Team Rosberg	40	+45.384s	1:24.478
15th	23	Daniel Juncadella	Mercedes-AMG Remus	40	+47.909s	1:24.482
16th	25	Philipp Eng	BMW Team RMR	40	+54.210s	1:24.314
17th	4	Robin Frijns	Audi Team Abt Sportsline	40	+56.215s	1:24.616
18th	3	Paul di Resta	Mercedes-AMG Remus	40	+1:04.040	1:24.487
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

• René Rast secured his fifth career victory.

Standings

Gary Paffett had returned to the top of the table after the first fight around the Sprint Circuit at the Nürburgring, moving six ahead of Paul di Resta. Edoardo Mortara was next up in third, having lost more ground, while Marco Wittmann had likewise slipped further behind with five races to go. René Rast was next up after his win, moving onto 121 points, while Bruno Spengler had moved into the top ten.

In the Teams' Championship it was Mercedes-AMG Petronas who still led the charge, moving 44 points ahead of sister squad Mercedes-AMG Silberpfeil. Mercedes-AMG Remus were next up in third having failed to score, while BMW Team RMR had inched closer to the latter duo in fourth. Mercedes, meanwhile, had retained their colossal advantage in the Manufacturers' Championship, moving onto 769 points for the season.

2018 Drivers' Championship Pos. Name Pts. +/- 1st Gary Paffett 194 ▲1 2nd Paul di Resta 186 ▼1 3rd Edoardo Mortara 138 ◄0 4th Marco Wittmann 122 ◄0 5th René Rast 121 ▲2 6th Timo Glock 119 ◄0 7th Lucas Auer 110 ▼2 8th Pascal Wehrlein 98 ◄0 9th Philipp Eng 87 ◄0 10th Bruno Spengler 63 ▲4 11th Daniel Juncadella 58 ▼1 12th Mike Rockenfeller 56 ▲1 13th Robin Frijns 55 ▼2 14th Joel Eriksson 52 ▼2 15th Loïc Duval 44 ▲2 16th Nico Müller 43 ▼1 17th Augusto Farfus 42 ▼1 18th Jamie Green 17 ◄0

2018 Teams' Championship Pos. Name Pts. +/- 1st Mercedes-AMG Petronas 292 ◄0 2nd Mercedes-AMG Silberpfeil 248 ◄0 3rd Mercedes-AMG Remus 244 ◄0 4th BMW Team RMR 206 ◄0 5th BMW Team RMG 164 ◄0 6th Audi Team Rosberg 138 ◄0 7th BMW Team RBM 115 ▲1 8th Audi Team Phoenix 100 ▲1 9th Audi Team Abt Sportsline 98 ▼2 2018 Manufacturers' Championship Pos. Name Pts. +/- 1st Mercedes 769 ◄0 2nd BMW 485 ◄0 3rd Audi 336 ◄0

References

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