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
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– The Autosport.com Team
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