Lausitzring DTM: Muller wins as BMW scores first podium
Nico Muller delivered an impressive performance to score his third consecutive victory of the DTM season at the Lausitzring on Saturday, as Sheldon van Linde put BMW on the podium.
Muller made a better launch than polesitter Robin Frijns to lead into Turn 1, with van der Linde passing Loic Duval to move himself up to third.
The three leaders ran nose-to-tail in the opening 10 laps of the race, with Muller having to work hard to keep the chasing pack at bay.
However, the Swiss driver was slowly able to carve a gap for himself, which grew to as much as 1.5 seconds before the pitstops began.
Van der Linde was first of the leaders to head to the pits on lap 14, with both Frijns and fourth-placed Duval following the next lap to cover the BMW driver.
While the Audi duo emerged just ahead of van der Linde after completing their pitstops, cold tyres meant they were unable to prevent the BMW driver from passing them and assuming second position.
Meanwhile, Muller waited until lap 20 to complete his mandatory pitstop and returned on track with an extended lead of more than six seconds.
The gap between the two drivers dropped to under three seconds after a 'safe zone', before van der Linde closed in further on Muller, potentially setting up a late race showdown.
However, van der Linde’s tyres began to fade in the final stages of the race, allowing Muller to rebuild the gap and win by 2.870s.
Van der Linde nonetheless was able to score BMW’s first podium of the year after the Munich-based manufacturer failed to finish inside the top five at Spa.
Frijns finished third for Audi after successfully fending off the BMW of Marco Wittmann, who completed a remarkable turnaround from Spa after scoring just a single point in the season opener.
Timo Glock ran wide at Turn 2 on the opening lap while trying to move up the order, but recovered enough to finish fifth and make it three BMWs in the top-five.
Ferdinand Habsburg secured the first points of the WRT Audi customer team in 2020 with fifth, finishing just four tenths clear of Audi's reigning champion Rene Rast.
Rast, fresh off a podium finish in the penultimate Formula E race of 2019/20 season at Berlin, had a subdued race en route to seventh after understeering onto the grass at Turn 6 on the opening lap of the race.
He finished four seconds clear of Audi stablemate Jamie Green after the two traded positions several times during the race, with Rast sealing seventh place on lap 35.
BMW’s Philipp Eng and Audi driver Mike Rockenfeller crossed the finish line side-by-side, with Eng holding onto the ninth spot by just over a tenth of a second.
Formula 1 race winner Robert Kubica secured his best result of the season so far in 13th in an ART-run BMW, despite being spun around at Turn 1 by the WRT Audi of Fabio Scherer - an offence for which Scherer was handed a drive-through penalty.
Duval was the only driver to retire from the race, the Audi driver parking his RS5 on lap 25 with what appeared to be a technical issue. A safe zone was deployed to assist the recovery of Duval's car.
Lausitzring DTM - Race 1 results:
| Cla | # | Driver | Car | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 51 |  Nico Müller | Audi RS5 Turbo DTM 2020 | |
| 2 | 31 |  Sheldon Van Der Linde | BMW M4 Turbo DTM 2020 | 2.870 |
| 3 | 4 |  Robin Frijns | Audi RS5 Turbo DTM 2020 | 7.513 |
| 4 | 11 |  Marco Wittmann | BMW M4 Turbo DTM 2020 | 7.861 |
| 5 | 16 | Timo Glock | BMW M4 Turbo DTM 2020 | 14.569 |
| 6 | 62 |  Ferdinand Habsburg | Audi RS5 Turbo DTM 2020 | 20.226 |
| 7 | 33 | René Rast | Audi RS5 Turbo DTM 2020 | 20.679 |
| 8 | 53 |  Jamie Green | Audi RS5 Turbo DTM 2020 | 24.914 |
| 9 | 25 | Philipp Eng | BMW M4 Turbo DTM 2020 | 26.654 |
| 10 | 99 | Mike Rockenfeller | Audi RS5 Turbo DTM 2020 | 26.802 |
| 11 | 10 | Harrison Newey | Audi RS5 Turbo DTM 2020 | 53.182 |
| 12 | 22 | Lucas Auer | BMW M4 Turbo DTM 2020 | 57.468 |
| 13 | 8 |  Robert Kubica | BMW M4 Turbo DTM 2020 | 1'07.388 |
| 14 | 27 | Jonathan Aberdein | BMW M4 Turbo DTM 2020 | 1 Lap |
| 15 | 13 | Fabio Scherer | Audi RS5 Turbo DTM 2020 | 1 Lap |
| 16 | 28 |  Loic Duval | Audi RS5 Turbo DTM 2020 | 19 Laps |
| View full results | ||||
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Lausitzring DTM: Frijns completes weekend pole sweep
About this article
| Series | DTM |
| Event | Lausitzring |
| Drivers | Nico Müller |
| Teams | Team Abt |
| Author | Rachit Thukral |
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