DTM Nurburgring: BMW's Martin wins after clash with Wehrlein

From third on the grid, Wehrlein got the best start, but he found Martin on the apex when he tried to take Turn 1.

The pair made contact, damaging the front-right of Wehrlein's Mercedes as he dropped to fourth.

Following a separate incident further back, the race was red flagged and when the cars stopped on pit straight, Wehrlein made a beeline for Martin's M4, smashing on the driver's window before walking back to inspect his own car.

"When there is contact you're never really happy," Martin said during the stoppage.

"I locked up with the front and was right on the inside kerb, but he was turning in like no-one was there. This is racing."

When the race resumed for 30 minutes, Martin charged away to be 2.2 seconds clear after just three laps.

His advantage grew to six seconds, with the eventual margin of his second career DTM win 2.5s.

Bruno Spengler was Martin's closest challenger for two-thirds of the race, running ahead of Edoardo Mortara and Wehrlein.

With 12 minutes to go, Mortara bustled down the inside of Spengler at Turn 1, the pair making contact as Wehrlein pounced to take third.

Spengler tried to fight on with his wounded BMW, but he received further treatment as he fell down the order and eventually retired with a puncture.

Mortara eventually crossed the line second, just ahead of Wehrlein, who now holds a 27-point championship lead, with Mortara his closest challenger.

Behind them Gary Paffett was fourth, ahead of Maximilian Gotz and polesitter Lucas Auer, who lost ground at the first corner, in a train of Mercedes drivers.

Marco Wittmann took seventh, ahead of Robert Wickens, Antonio Felix da Costa and Mattias Ekstrom.

The red flag came following a three-wide, Turn 3 incident on the opening lap that accounted for championship contender Jamie Green and Audi stablemate Miguel Molina.

Green was on the outside, as Daniel Juncadella looked down the inside of Tom Blomqvist, and Blomqvist's BMW turned Green's Audi around and into the path of Molina.

Blomqvist, who took his first win in the last round at Oschersleben, eventually retired from damage incurred, as did Timo Scheider, who was also clipped by Green.

Martin Tomczyk didn't even get that far, failing to start due to mechanical problems.

RESULT