Nicki Thiim took Aston Martin's first victory in the DTM at the Norisring, triumphing from pole position in a red-flagged race.
The lengthy interruption was caused by a hefty accident involving Kelvin van der Linde and Maximilian Paul.
Paul lost control of his Grasser-entered Lamborghini under braking ahead of the Grundig hairpin and slammed into the guardrail before sliding across the track and hitting the BMW at high speed. Both drivers were taken to hospital for further examination.
Earlier, the start of the race was smooth as Thiim defended the lead from Maro Engel (Winward-Mercedes), although Marco Wittmann's BMW picked up a puncture and eventually retired.
Tom Kalender triggered the first safety car intervention of the race when he crashed into the 'Wall of Champions', damaging his rear suspension, with his Mercedes ending up in the middle of the track. The opening of the pitstop window was consequently delayed.
A perfect pitstop by the Comtoyou team allowed Thiim to retain the lead, but Engel was the fastest driver on track and was catching the Dane when the race was red-flagged.
Meanwhile, Timo Glock was struck by further drama as a fault was detected on his Doerr-entered McLaren, on top of an oil leak – which may have led to Paul's off.
The race ended with a 15-minute sprint, with Thiim defending his lead from Engel, with Arjun Maini and Thomas Preining following. However, the Manthey-Porsche driver was successively overtaken by Lucas Auer, Thierry Vermeulen, Finn Wiebelhaus, Jules Gounon and Mirko Bortolotti.
Thiim's victory was the second in his DTM career, again at the Norisring. He is only the 15th driver to win with different brands in the German championship, following in his own father's footsteps– Kurt Thiim triumphed with Rover, BMW and Mercedes.
Second-placed Engel extended his lead in the standings ahead of Sunday's race, which is scheduled at 1:30pm.
Norisring - Race 1 results
RACE1
| Cla | Driver | # | Car | Laps | Time | Interval | Pits | Points | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  N. Thiim Comtoyou Racing |
7 | Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo | 63 | 1:50'55.938 |
1 | 25 | ||||
| 2 |  M. Engel Mercedes-AMG Team Ravenol |
80 | Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo | 63 | +0.587 1:50'56.525 |
0.587 | 1 | 20 | |||
| 3 |  A. Maini HRT Ford Performance |
36 | Ford Mustang GT3 Evo | 63 | +3.182 1:50'59.120 |
2.595 | 1 | 16 | |||
| 4 |  L. Auer Mercedes-AMG Team Landgraf |
22 | Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo | 63 | +3.826 1:50'59.764 |
0.644 | 1 | 13 | |||
| 5 | T. Vermeulen Emil Frey Racing | 69 | Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo | 63 | +11.346 1:51'07.284 |
7.520 | 1 | 11 | |||
| 6 | F. Wiebelhaus HRT Ford Performance | 64 | Ford Mustang GT3 Evo | 63 | +12.237 1:51'08.175 |
0.891 | 1 | 10 | |||
| 7 |  J. Gounon Mercedes-AMG Team Mann-Filter |
48 | Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo | 63 | +13.612 1:51'09.550 |
1.375 | 1 | 9 | |||
| 8 |  M. Bortolotti TGI Team Lamborghini by GRT |
19 | Lamborghini Temerario GT3 | 63 | +14.506 1:51'10.444 |
0.894 | 1 | 8 | |||
| 9 | T. Preining Manthey Racing |
91 | Porsche 911 GT3 R (992.2) | 63 | +16.220 1:51'12.158 |
1.714 | 1 | 7 | |||
| 10 | B. Dörr Dörr Motorsport | 25 | McLaren 720S GT3 Evo | 63 | +17.355 1:51'13.293 |
1.135 | 1 | 6 | |||
| 11 | M. Cairoli Emil Frey Racing |
14 | Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo | 63 | +18.185 1:51'14.123 |
0.830 | 1 | 5 | |||
| 12 |  R. Feller Manthey Racing |
90 | Porsche 911 GT3 R (992.2) | 63 | +18.901 1:51'14.839 |
0.716 | 1 | 4 | |||
| 13 | B. Buus Land-Motorsport | 29 | Porsche 911 GT3 R (992.2) | 63 | +19.497 1:51'15.435 |
0.596 | 1 | 3 | |||
| 14 | L. Engstler Red Bull Team Abt |
130 | Lamborghini Temerario GT3 | 63 | +19.726 1:51'15.664 |
0.229 | 1 | 2 | |||
| 15 | N. Baert Comtoyou Racing | 8 | Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo | 63 | +20.715 1:51'16.653 |
0.989 | 1 | 1 | |||
| 16 | M. Mapelli Red Bull Team Abt |
10 | Lamborghini Temerario GT3 | 63 | +26.057 1:51'21.995 |
5.342 | 1 | ||||
| dnf | T. Glock Dörr Motorsport |
16 | McLaren 720S GT3 Evo | 36 | 27 Laps |
1 | |||||
| dnf | P. Maximilian TGI Team Lamborghini by GRT |
63 | Lamborghini Temerario GT3 | 34 | 29 Laps |
1 | |||||
| dnf |  K. van der Linde Schubert Motorsport |
3 | BMW M4 GT3 Evo | 33 | 30 Laps |
1 | |||||
| dnf | T. Kalender Mercedes-AMG Team Landgraf | 84 | Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo | 14 | 49 Laps |
||||||
| dnf | M. Wittmann Schubert Motorsport |
11 | BMW M4 GT3 Evo | 4 | 59 Laps |
2 | |||||
| View full results | |||||||||||
