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Nurburgring DTM: Miguel Molina wins, Pascal Wehrlein close to title

Audi's Miguel Molina claimed his maiden DTM victory at the Nurburgring, as Mercedes Formula 1 reserve Pascal Wehrlein put one hand on the title

Molina was never troubled from pole position, building a three-second buffer in the early stages.

While Paul di Resta was on his tail following the mandatory pitstops, he romped away again to win by 7.5s.

The Spaniard becomes the 12th different winner this season, as Mercedes' di Resta and BMW's Bruno Spengler ensured all three brands appeared on the podium.

Tom Blomqvist was a lonely fourth, ahead of championship leader Wehrlein, who was in the thick of the action.

After qualifying ninth, Wehrlein moved up to sixth early, and took fifth from Augusto Farfus with a move at the final corner.

However, a slow pitstop and further delay to avoid an unsafe release meant Wehrlein lost places to Maximilian Gotz, Daniel Juncadella and Farfus.

He eventually got back past Farfus with a forceful move around the outside of the chicane, just before Mike Rockenfeller became the final driver to pit at the halfway mark.

Rockenfeller emerged between the pair and with the aid of DRS, was all over the back of Wehrlein's Mercedes.

Reinforcements were summoned in the form of stablemates Juncadella and Gotz, who gradually sacrificed their own races to let Wehrlein past and slot in ahead of Rockenfeller.

In the end, Wehrlein did enough to finish fifth, with Gotz keeping Rockenfeller at bay and Farfus eighth.

Mattias Ekstrom was out of the points in 11th and Edoardo Mortara failed to finish, meaning Wehrlein will head to Hockenheim's season finale with a 37-point advantage and 50 on offer.

Ekstrom was part of a pack contesting the final points.

From the rear of the grid - and having missed Saturday's race while BMW investigated a powertrain vibration - Martin Tomczyk won the battle, ahead of Juncadella, Ekstrom and Adrien Tambay.

Mortara retired after contact from Timo Glock at Turn 3, as they fought within the same spirited pack.

From third on the grid, Jamie Green stalled, dropped to last and eventually finished 17th, ending his chances of winning the title.

Green's sluggish start was followed by another first-lap incident, with Robert Wickens and Timo Scheider coming together at Turn 1.

Gary Paffett was then turned around at Turn 4 by Marco Wittmann, but ultimately retired with engine problems, despite a new unit being fitted after his primary unit failed during the Sunday morning warm-up.

RESULTS - 43 LAPS:

Pos Driver Team Car Gap
1 Miguel Molina Abt Audi 1h02m00.166s
2 Paul Di Resta HWA Mercedes 7.500s
3 Bruno Spengler MTEK BMW 8.791s
4 Tom Blomqvist RBM BMW 19.824s
5 Pascal Wehrlein HWA Mercedes 25.581s
6 Maximilian Gotz Mucke Mercedes 26.326s
7 Mike Rockenfeller Phoenix Audi 26.626s
8 Augusto Farfus RBM BMW 34.305s
9 Martin Tomczyk Schnitzer BMW 37.205s
10 Daniel Juncadella Mucke Mercedes 38.059s
11 Mattias Ekstrom Abt Audi 38.848s
12 Adrien Tambay Abt Audi 38.980s
13 Maxime Martin RMG BMW 41.174s
14 Christian Vietoris HWA Mercedes 41.451s
15 Antonio Felix da Costa Schnitzer BMW 42.656s
16 Nico Muller Rosberg Audi 43.205s
17 Jamie Green Rosberg Audi 47.506s
18 Marco Wittmann RMG BMW 1m02.291s
19 Lucas Auer ART Mercedes 1m05.555s
20 Timo Glock MTEK BMW 1m11.458s
- Edoardo Mortara Abt Audi Retirement
- Gary Paffett ART Mercedes Retirement
- Robert Wickens HWA Mercedes Retirement
- Timo Scheider Phoenix Audi Retirement

CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS:

Pos Driver Points
1 Pascal Wehrlein 165
2 Edoardo Mortara 128
3 Mattias Ekstrom 127
4 Bruno Spengler 119
5 Jamie Green 107
6 Marco Wittmann 104
7 Gary Paffett 87
8 Augusto Farfus 77
9 Antonio Felix da Costa 73
10 Mike Rockenfeller 73
11 Maxime Martin 71
12 Paul Di Resta 66
13 Robert Wickens 61
14 Timo Glock 56
15 Christian Vietoris 56
16 Miguel Molina 54
17 Tom Blomqvist 53
18 Martin Tomczyk 26
19 Daniel Juncadella 26
20 Nico Muller 26
21 Maximilian Gotz 24
22 Lucas Auer 18
23 Timo Scheider 16
24 Adrien Tambay 3
25 Antonio Giovinazzi 0

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