2018 Spielberg Race 2

2018 Spielberg Race 2
The Red Bull Ring in 2018
Race Information
Date	23 September 2018
No.	231
Event	DTM Spielberg 2018
Location	Red Bull Ring Spielberg, Styria, Austria
Format	55 min + 1 Lap
Lap length	4.326 km (2.688 mi)
Distance	40 laps / 173.040 km (107.522 mi)
Qualifying Result
Pole Sitter	Gary Paffett
Team	Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Petronas
Time	1:23.404
Fastest Lap
Driver	Gary Paffett
Team	Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Petronas
Time	1:24.907 on lap 4
Race Result
First	Second	Third
René Rast	Nico Müller	Gary Paffett
Winner Team	Audi Sport Team Rosberg
Time	57:45.704
Race Guide
Previous		Next
2018 Spielberg Race 1		2018 Hockenheim Finale Race 1

The 2018 Spielberg Race 2, formally known as the DTM Spielberg 2018 Race 2, was the eighteenth race of the 2018 DMSB Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters Championship, staged at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Styria, Austria on 23 September 2018. The race would see René Rast secure his fourth victory in a row, becoming the first driver to achieve that feat in DTM history, as Mercedes secured the Manufacturers' Championship with a weekend to spare.

Mercedes would technically wrap up the title in qualifying, as Gary Paffett secured pole position, while Paul di Resta, Championship leader, secured third. They were split by Nico Müller, the lone Audi in a top five otherwise occupied by Mercedes, while Joel Eriksson headed the BMW challenge from sixth.

The start of the race would see Paffett immediately catapult himself into the lead, as Müller had to fend off the attentions of di Resta. Behind, Rast pulled off an audacious move on Pascal Wehrlein and Eriksson to secure fourth, with Eriksson following him past the #94 Mercedes.

Müller would escape from di Resta after the opening tour, and duly seized the lead from Paffett with a lunge into turn three on lap three. Paffett retaliated with a lunge two laps later but was resisted, resulting in a drawn out duel for the lead that allowed di Resta, Rast and Eriksson to close back in.

The race quickly settled into a fast paced stalemate, with the top five running close together until lap seventeen, when Rast dived in to serve his stop. That coincided with Augusto Farfus stopping after a failure, with di Resta stopping a lap later but getting undercut by the #33 Audi.

Müller and Paffett were in on the following tour, with a disastrous pitstop for the #2 Mercedes leaving Paffett behind both Müller and Rast, while di Resta was in position to attack him. The Englishman quickly surrendered the position to his teammate due to his cold tyres, before moving back ahead the Scotsman seven laps later.

Out front, meanwhile, Jamie Green would be the only driver to gamble on a longer first stint, running in the lead of the race as Müller and co. moved into second. Rast duly secured the de facto lead on lap 28 with an unopposed dive inside the sister #51 Audi, with Green pitting at the end of the following tour.

With that the race was run, with Rast sweeping across the line with Müller acting as a rear gunner to claim his fourth straight win, and fifth of the campaign. Paffett was next up to complete the podium, while di Resta secured fourth ahead of Eriksson, Wehrlein, Timo Glock, Mike Rockenfeller, Philipp Eng and Edoardo Mortara.

With two races to go it was di Resta who led the Championship with a four point margin over Paffett, while Rast was the dark horse for the title in third, 30 behind.

Background

Paul di Resta had moved back to the top of the Championship after the first run around the Red Bull Ring, heading into the Sunday Race with a nine point lead. Race winner René Rast, meanwhile, had closed the gap to the leader to 42 points, with a further 31 points separating Rast from fourth placed Marco Wittmann. Edoardo Mortara was a further five behind in fifth, with the Italian the last of the drivers still in the title hunt mathematically.

In the Teams' Championship it was Mercedes-AMG Petronas who still led the charge, although their lead had been cut to 30 points during Saturday's running. Mercedes-AMG Remus were next up having reduced the gap, while Mercedes-AMG Silberpfeil had retained third ahead of BMW Team RMR. Mercedes, meanwhile, were on the verge of claiming their first Manufacturers' title since 2005, having moved onto 825 points.

Entry List

The full entry list for the 2018 Spielberg Race 2 is displayed below:

2018 Spielberg Race 2 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
17	Sébastien Ogier	Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Remus	Mercedes	AMG C63 DTM	AMG 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 Spielberg Race 2 are outlined below:

2018 Spielberg Race 2 Qualifying Result
Pos.	No.	Name	Team	Time	Gap	Ave. Speed	Grid
1st	2	Gary Paffett	Mercedes-AMG Petronas	1:23.404	—	186.379 km/h	1
2nd	51	Nico Müller	Audi Team Abt Sportsline	1:23.432	+0.028s	186.317 km/h	2
3rd	3	Paul di Resta	Mercedes-AMG Remus	1:23.632	+0.228s	185.871 km/h	3
4th	48	Edoardo Mortara	Mercedes-AMG Silberpfeil	1:23.712	+0.308s	185.693 km/h	4
5th	94	Pascal Wehrlein	Mercedes-AMG Petronas	1:23.748	+0.344s	185.613 km/h	5
6th	47	Joel Eriksson	BMW Team RBM	1:23.773	+0.369s	185.558 km/h	6
7th	16	Timo Glock	BMW Team RMR	1:23.853	+0.449s	185.381 km/h	7
8th	33	René Rast	Audi Team Rosberg	1:23.866	+0.462s	185.352 km/h	8
9th	23	Daniel Juncadella	Mercedes-AMG Remus	1:23.885	+0.481s	185.310 km/h	9
10th	25	Philipp Eng	BMW Team RMR	1:23.969	+0.565s	185.125 km/h	10
11th	4	Robin Frijns	Audi Team Abt Sportsline	1:24.014	+0.610s	185.026 km/h	11
12th	53	Jamie Green	Audi Team Rosberg	1:24.040	+0.636s	184.969 km/h	12
13th	99	Mike Rockenfeller	Audi Team Phoenix	1:24.070	+0.666s	184.903 km/h	13
14th	22	Lucas Auer	Mercedes-AMG Silberpfeil	1:24.133	+0.729s	184.764 km/h	14
15th	7	Bruno Spengler	BMW Team RBM	1:24.185	+0.781s	184.650 km/h	15
16th	15	Augusto Farfus	BMW Team RMG	1:24.250	+1.018s	184.508 km/h	16
17th	11	Marco Wittmann	BMW Team RMG	1:24.422	+1.018s	184.132 km/h	17
18th	28	Loïc Duval	Audi Team Phoenix	1:24.452	+1.048s	184.066 km/h	18
19th	17W	Sébastien Ogier	Mercedes-AMG Remus	1:24.700	+1.296s	183.527 km/h	19
Source:

• ^W Indicates that a driver was a "wildcard" entry and was ineligible to score points.
• Bold indicates a driver's best/qualifying time.

Grid

	Pos.	Pos.
	Driver	Driver
		______________
Row 1	______________	1
	2	Gary Paffett
	Nico Müller	______________
Row 2	______________	3
	4	Paul di Resta
	Edoardo Mortara	______________
Row 3	______________	5
	6	Pascal Wehrlein
	Joel Eriksson	______________
Row 4	______________	7
	8	Timo Glock
	René Rast	______________
Row 5	______________	9
	10	Daniel Juncadella
	Philipp Eng	______________
Row 6	______________	11
	12	Robin Frijns
	Jamie Green	______________
Row 7	______________	13
	14	Mike Rockenfeller
	Lucas Auer	______________
Row 8	______________	15
	16	Bruno Spengler
	Augusto Farfus	______________
Row 9	______________	17
	18	Marco Wittmann
	Loïc Duval	______________
Row 10	______________	19
	20	Sébastien Ogier
		______________

Race

Results

The final classification of the 2018 Spielberg Race 2 is displayed below:

2018 Spielberg Race 2 Result
Pos.	No.	Name	Team	Laps	Race Time	Fastest lap	Pts.
1st	33	René Rast	Audi Team Rosberg	40	57:45.704	1:25.063	25
2nd	51	Nico Müller	Audi Team Abt Sportsline	40	+0.421s	1:25.003	182
3rd	2	Gary Paffett	Mercedes-AMG Petronas	40	+4.700s	1:24.907	153
4th	3	Paul di Resta	Mercedes-AMG Remus	40	+6.963s	1:25.207	121
5th	47	Joel Eriksson	BMW Team RBM	40	+10.889s	1:25.228	10
6th	94	Pascal Wehrlein	Mercedes-AMG Petronas	40	+14.709s	1:25.387	8
7th	16	Timo Glock	BMW Team RMR	40	+15.692s	1:25.421	6
8th	99	Mike Rockenfeller	Audi Team Phoenix	40	+20.193s	1:25.337	4
9th	25	Philipp Eng	BMW Team RMR	40	+24.830s	1:25.160	2
10th	48	Edoardo Mortara	Mercedes-AMG Silberpfeil	40	+25.685s	1:25.356	1
11th	23	Daniel Juncadella	Mercedes-AMG Remus	40	+26.314s	1:25.290
12th	53	Jamie Green	Audi Team Rosberg	40	+26.647s	1:25.286
13th	11	Marco Wittmann	BMW Team RMG	40	+37.659s	1:25.355
14th	7	Bruno Spengler	BMW Team RBM	40	+38.013s	1:25.631
15th	28	Loïc Duval	Audi Team Phoenix	40	+38.336s	1:25.695
16th	17W	Sébastien Ogier	Mercedes-AMG Remus	39	+1 Lap	1:25.461
DSQ*	4	Robin Frijns	Audi Team Abt Sportsline	40	Disqualified	1:25.093
Ret	22	Lucas Auer	Mercedes-AMG Silberpfeil	27	Retired	1:25.315
Ret	15	Augusto Farfus	BMW Team RMG	15	Retired	1:26.026
Source:nt

• ³ Indicates a driver was awarded points for qualifying in the top three.
• ^W Indicates that a driver was a "wildcard" entry and was ineligible to score points.
• Bold indicates a driver started from pole.
• Italics indicate that a driver set fastest lap.

Milestones

• Mercedes declared as the 2018 DMSB Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters Championship for Manufacturers Champions.
  • This was their third and final Manufacturers' title, and first since 2005.
• Eighth career victory for René Rast.
  • Rast set a new record for most consecutive race wins - 4.

Standings

Paul di Resta would retain the lead in the Championship with two rounds to go, although his advantage had been reduced to four points ahead of the finale. Gary Paffett was his closest challenger in second, although it was third placed René Rast who had the momentum ahead of the final battle in Hockenheim, although faced a 30 point deficit. Those three would also head into the finale as the only pretenders to the crown, with fourth placed Marco Wittmann too far back to challenge.

In the Teams' Championship it would be a straight fight between Mercedes-AMG Petronas and sister squad Mercedes-AMG Remus in Hockenheim for the title, with the former holding a 43 point advantage. Various scenarios between the two could earn either the title, and with their lead drivers both fighting for the title there was little chance of intervention from their controllers. Elsewhere, the Manufacturers' Championship was over, with Mercedes declared as Champions with two races to spare with 865 points, with BMW set to claim second, while Audi were classified in third.

2018 Drivers' Championship Pos. Name Pts. +/- 1st Paul di Resta 229 ◄0 2nd Gary Paffett 225 ◄0 3rd René Rast 199 ◄0 4th Marco Wittmann 143 ◄0 5th Edoardo Mortara 139 ◄0 6th Timo Glock 127 ◄0 7th Lucas Auer 118 ◄0 8th Pascal Wehrlein 108 ◄0 9th Philipp Eng 98 ◄0 10th Mike Rockenfeller 79 ◄0 11th Nico Müller 78 ▲3 12th Bruno Spengler 75 ▼1 13th Joel Eriksson 70 ◄0 14th Daniel Juncadella 61 ▼2 15th Robin Frijns 56 ◄0 16th Augusto Farfus 50 ◄0 17th Loïc Duval 44 ◄0 18th Jamie Green 27 ◄0

2018 Teams' Championship Pos. Name Pts. +/- 1st Mercedes-AMG Petronas 333 ◄0 2nd Mercedes-AMG Remus 290 ◄0 3rd Mercedes-AMG Silberpfeil 257 ◄0 4th Audi Team Rosberg 226 ▲1 5th BMW Team RMR 225 ▼1 6th BMW Team RMG 193 ◄0 7th BMW Team RBM 145 ◄0 8th Audi Team Abt Sportsline 134 ▲1 9th Audi Team Phoenix 123 ▼1 2018 Manufacturers' Championship Pos. Name Pts. +/- 1st Mercedes 865 ◄0 2nd BMW 563 ◄0 3rd Audi 483 ◄0

References

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