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Oschersleben DTM: Christian Vietoris gives Mercedes shock wet win

Mercedes' Christian Vietoris came from the back of the field to take an incredible maiden DTM win in wet conditions at Oschersleben

With light rain beginning to fall on the formation lap, the HWA driver rolled the dice, he and Daniel Juncadella coming in to switch to wet tyres while the rest of the field took the start.

When it started to rain heavier after several laps, the strategy began to pay off, particularly for Vietoris, who then got a further break in the form of two early safety car periods.

On lap 18 Vietoris and HWA made their second smart strategic call of the day, making a second stop to clear the obligatory 'window' pitstop, which must happen in the second third of the race, earlier than everyone else.

Once again the safety car helped out, Vietoris immediately closing the gap to the field, and then streaking into the lead when the frontrunners all had to make their pit window stop late in the race.

Mike Rockenfeller was second - just 0.6 seconds behind Vietoris at the end - having used a very similar strategy to the winner.

While the Audi driver did not switch to wets until lap seven, he did mimic Vietoris' early second stop, helping him to a surprising second place ahead of Edoardo Mortara, who recovered from being spun early by Pascal Wehrlein to finish third.

The biggest escape of the day went to Paul di Resta. The Scot finished a fine fourth, despite being tipped off the road at speed by Maxime Martin on lap 13.

Again, the key was making that second crucial stop before the third safety car period, di Resta stopping on lap 23.

Augusto Farfus finished fifth, Miguel Molina sixth, Timo Scheider seventh and Gary Paffett made it three Mercedes in the points with eighth.

Martin Tomczyk and Adrien Tambay rounded out the points-paying positions.

Results - 44 laps:

Pos  Driver                  Team/Car            Time/Gap
 1.  Christian Vietoris      HWA Mercedes    1h15m28.785s
 2.  Mike Rockenfeller       Phoenix Audi         +0.674s
 3.  Edoardo Mortara         Abt Audi             +7.769s
 4.  Paul di Resta           HWA Mercedes         +8.906s
 5.  Augusto Farfus          RBM BMW              +9.326s
 6.  Miguel Molina           Abt Audi            +13.051s
 7.  Timo Scheider           Phoenix Audi        +20.503s
 8.  Gary Paffett            HWA Mercedes        +20.597s
 9.  Martin Tomczyk          Schnitzer BMW       +23.079s
10.  Adrien Tambay           Abt Audi            +24.340s
11.  Antonio Felix da Costa  MTEK BMW            +24.620s
12.  Bruno Spengler          Schnitzer BMW       +26.892s
13.  Mattias Ekstrom         Abt Audi            +27.201s
14.  Maxime Martin           RMG BMW             +31.032s
15.  Joey Hand               RBM BMW             +39.802s
16.  Nico Muller             Rosberg Audi        +44.324s
17.  Vitaly Petrov           Mucke Mercedes      +55.493s
18.  Jamie Green             Rosberg Audi          -1 lap*
19.  Marco Wittmann          RMG BMW               -1 lap

* Not running at finish

Retirements:

     Pascal Wehrlein         HWA Mercedes         26 laps
     Daniel Juncadella       Mucke Mercedes       22 laps
     Timo Glock              MTEK BMW             13 laps
     Robert Wickens          HWA Mercedes          9 laps

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