Timo Glock breezes to Red Bull Ring DTM victory for BMW

From third on the grid, Glock made his way by fellow BMW driver Antonio Felix da Costa at the start and jumped polesitter Jamie Green to take the lead on the second lap before the deployment of the safety car.

Thereafter, Glock was able to edge away and regained a comfortable lead following the conclusion of the pitstop phase.

He eventually finished 2.215 seconds clear of Ekstrom, who got the most from a long first stint to advance from 11th on the grid into the podium positions, getting ahead of fellow Audi driver Green in the closing laps to seal second.

The Swede may well have faced a challenge for third on his exit from the pits, but Edoardo Mortara and da Costa came to blows at Turn 4 on lap 24 while battling for a net third.

Da Costa got a good run off Turn 3 and drew alongside Mortara and ahead on the approach to Turn 4, only for the latter to tag the rear of da Costa's BMW, sending the pair into the gravel.

The pair's demise allowed Ekstrom to rejoin a comfortable third after his pitstop on lap 28 of 42 and, after reeling Green in, he grabbed second with five laps to run.

Green couldn't quite replicate his qualifying pace in the race, but held on to a comfortable third to score his first points of the season.

MTEK BMW driver Augusto Farfus just edged out marque counterpart Maxime Martin for fourth, while fellow BMW drivers Tom Blomqvist and Saturday race one winner Marco Wittmann came home in sixth and seventh.

Mike Rockenfeller and Bruno Spengler had quiet but productive races to finish eighth and ninth, while Timo Scheider - who was at the centre of the 'push him out' scandal at the Red Bull Ring last year - held on for the final point.

Scheider came under late pressure from Gary Paffett - fighting to be the only Mercedes driver to finish in the points - but defended his position robustly on the final lap by nudging Paffett onto the grass, dropping the latter down the order.

Instead, Dani Juncadella finished best of the Mercedes cars in 12th to complete a miserable weekend for the marque.

RESULTS - 42 LAPS:

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