Di Resta big winner at Misano

Paul di Resta (Mercedes) carried out a very good operation this Saturday evening by taking pole and victory in Race 1 of the DTM in Misano (Italy). The 2010 champion held off Championship leader Gary Paffett (Mercedes) who moved up to second place before the pit stop, but the Briton retired following contact with Edoardo Mortara (Mercedes).

The safety car which followed the accident allowed Daniel Juncadella (Mercedes) and Augusto Farfus (BMW) to take control, but it was Philipp Eng (BMW) who started 18th on the grid who managed to take advantage of the restart. Although the Austrian missed the next restart after another interruption, he managed to regain the advantage over the former Force India driver before the latter definitively took the lead of the race.

The top three was finally completed by Robin Frijns (Audi), although down to 12th position, and Edoardo Mortara (Mercedes). The 2012 Formula champion Renault 3.5 Series thus achieved its first podium in DTM. Loïc duval (Audi) was able to move up to 4th place ahead of Nico Müller (Audi) and Pascal Wehrlein (Mercedes). Timo Glock took the first BMW M4 DTM to 7th place ahead of Philipp Eng who was poorly rewarded for his efforts.

Alex Zanardi reached the finish in 13th and last place, Daniel Juncadella having retired with a mechanical problem 5 laps from the checkered flag.