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Audi's Miguel Molina dominates Lausitzring DTM opener

Audi Sport Team Abt driver Miguel Molina claimed the second win of his DTM career with a dominant display at the Lausitzring

Having started from pole, Molina lost out initially but reclaimed the lead from fellow Audi driver Jamie Green at one-quarter distance and eased clear in the remaining laps.

A tentative start from Molina allowed Green to take the inside line at Turn 1 and, after jostling for position through the next few corners, Briton Green blocked the Spaniard's line into Turn 3 to snatch the lead, as HWA Mercedes driver jumped Marco Wittmann for third immediately behind.

Green was unable to build a gap though and was gradually caught by Mortara, who, after deploying DRS onto the main straight at the end of lap seven, slithered up the inside to reclaim the lead at Turn 1.

The field bunched up slightly as a result, but Molina soon found his stride and edged clear over the last half hour to win by two seconds at the chequered flag.

As Molina pulled away, Green was reeled in ever so slightly at first by Mercedes' Wickens and Wittmann.

BMW man Wittmann dropped away in the second half of the race, instead fending off the attention of Mucke Mercedes pair Lucas Auer and Christian Vietoris, but Wickens stayed with Green in the fight for second.

Wickens was able to catch the Audi at the end of the main straight on a couple of occasions, but never attempted a move and instead backed off in the final laps to allow his engine to breathe.

Wittmann defended fourth robustly, at first from Auer and then Vietoris, and held on to the position despite running out of DRS usage shortly after the half distance.

Vietoris was allowed through by Auer with a quarter of the race to go and finished fifth, with Audi driver Mattias Ekstrom sneaking between the pair shortly after their switch to claim sixth.

Edoardo Mortara moved into eighth late on at the expense of Maxime Martin, who then held off Nico Muller for ninth over the final laps of the race.

RESULTS - 32 LAPS:

Pos Driver Team Car Gap
1 Miguel Molina Abt Audi 42m04.244s
2 Jamie Green Rosberg Audi 2.034s
3 Robert Wickens HWA Mercedes 4.175s
4 Marco Wittmann RMG BMW 8.724s
5 Christian Vietoris Mucke Mercedes 9.759s
6 Mattias Ekstrom Abt Audi 10.398s
7 Lucas Auer Mucke Mercedes 10.794s
8 Edoardo Mortara Abt Audi 14.437s
9 Maxime Martin RBM BMW 17.808s
10 Nico Muller Abt Audi 18.414s
11 Bruno Spengler MTEK BMW 18.965s
12 Timo Glock RMG BMW 22.282s
13 Paul Di Resta HWA Mercedes 31.821s
14 Gary Paffett ART Mercedes 33.128s
15 Antonio Felix da Costa Schnitzer BMW 36.391s
16 Maximilian Gotz HWA Mercedes 38.400s
17 Timo Scheider Phoenix Audi 39.396s
18 Daniel Juncadella HWA Mercedes 40.298s
19 Mike Rockenfeller Phoenix Audi 41.509s
20 Adrien Tambay Rosberg Audi 42.741s
21 Augusto Farfus MTEK BMW 43.286s
22 Tom Blomqvist RBM BMW 43.912s
23 Esteban Ocon ART Mercedes 49.778s
- Martin Tomczyk Schnitzer BMW Retirement


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