At the Lausitzring, the Audi driver from Switzerland won the third race of the season.
That made him the first DTM driver in history to win the first three races in one season. However, claiming victory for the 28-year-old wasn’t as easy as during the Spa-Francorchamps season opener where he secured the maximum point score in both races.
After the disappointment in Belgium, BMW showed itself considerably stronger and claimed second place with Sheldon van der Linde. Temporarily, the 21-year-old even put Müller under pressure and was in contention for victory.
Next to six Audis, four BMWs made it into the top ten. Third across the finish line was Robin Frijns (Audi) who, like at Spa, was unable to convert his pole position into his maiden DTM race win. Ferdinand Habsburg, meanwhile, sprang a surprise. With the privately-run Audi of Belgian team WRT, the Austrian secured sixth place with a competitive performance.
Prior to the fourth race of the season on Sunday (live stream at grid.dtm.com from 13.00 hrs), last year’s runner-up Müller is leading the drivers’ standings with 80 points already.
Frijns is now second (43) from defending champion Rast (35). At the Lausitzring, located between Berlin and Dresden, the DTM is having its first-ever double header as only one week hence, the fifth and sixth race of the season will be held at the same venue.
BMW putting Audi under pressure for the first time
In a race that included numerous position fights, Nico Müller already laid the foundation for his success at the start. In the run to the critical first corner, he pipped his Dutch fellow Audi driver Robin Frijns.
Sheldon van der Linde also made up a position at the start and claimed third place from Loïc Duval (FRA/Audi) who ended up as the only driver not to make it to the finish.
Defending champion René Rast also managed to make up ground at the start, but then became victim of a contact and had to head out onto the grass at turn 3 in avoidance.
Van der Linde confirmed BMW’s upward trend and put Frijns under pressure. The South African came into the pits for his tyre change early and made his way past Frijns later on as the Dutchman rejoined the race following his pit stop.
After that, van der Linde showed his spirit with the BMW M4 DTM and steadily reduced the gap to Müller for several laps. The Swiss, however, saw off the attack, made no mistake and eventually safely brought victory home ahead of van der Linde and Frijns.
With fourth and fifth place respectively, double champion Marco Wittmann and ex-Formula 1 driver Timo Glock underlined the fact that BMW has made significant progress in only a fortnight. René Rast, meanwhile, who also lost time during the tyre change, only finished seventh behind Habsburg.
On Friday, the two-time DTM champion had lost his victory from the Sunday race at Spa following a decision from the officials. Due to the unauthorised use of additional power (push-to-pass), the German was given a time penalty and dropped to third position.
Second pole position for Dutchman Frijns
Repeating his performance from Spa-Francorchamps on Saturday, Robin Frijns had claimed his second pole position of the season in qualifying.
Double Spa race winner Nico Müller and Loïc Duval rounded out the clean sweep of the first three grid positions for Audi.
BMW showed itself considerably stronger than during the season opener in Belgium and also had three of its cars among the first three rows of the grid with Sheldon van der Linde, Timo Glock and two-time champion Marco Wittmann.
Results – race 1, Lausitzring Sprint
01. Nico Müller (SUI), Audi RS 5 DTM, 43 laps in 57m 6,681s
02. Sheldon van der LInde (RSA), BMW M4 DTM, + 2,870s
03. Robin Frijns (NED), Audi RS 5 DTM, + 7,513s
04. Marco Wittmann (GER), BMW M4 DTM, +7,861s
05. Timo Glock (GER), BMW M4 DTM, +14,569s
06. Ferdinand Habsugr (AUT), Audi RS 5 DTM, +20,226s
07. René Rast (GER), Audi RS 5 DTM, +20,679s
08. Jamie Green (GBR), Audi RS 5 DTM, +24,914s
09. Philipp Eng (AUT), BNMW M4 DTM, +26,653s
10. Harrison Newey (GBR), Audi RS 5 DTM, +53,182s
Schnellste Rennrunde: Nico Müller (SUI), Audi RS 5 DTM, 1m 17,249s
Pole-Position: Robin Frijns (NED), Audi RS 5 DTM, 1m 15,486s
Wetter: 27°C, cloudy
Strecke: 33°C, dry