René Rast inherits C1 victory at Red Bull Ring

Dani juncadella seemed well on his way to winning the first race of the weekend at Red Bull Ring but the Spaniard saw his hopes disappear at the very end of the race in a penalty to leave the Audi clan signing a hat-trick Rast–Rockenfeller–Müller, visibly marked by the instructions seal.

After a start on a drying track which saw poleman Juncadella take the best start against Timo Glock (BMW), the safety car was deployed on the first lap after an incident at turn 3 causing the Dutchman Robin to be the main victim. Frijns (Audi), sent into a spin by Philipp Eng (BMW) himself pushed at the start of the turn.

Loïc duval (Audi) but also Gary Paffett (Mercedes), championship leader, were unable to avoid Frijns' Audi immobilized on the track. The damage to the Frenchman's car ultimately forced him to retire.

On the restart, Mike Rockenfeller (Audi) took the advantage over leader and pole sitter Dani Juncadella (Mercedes) at the exit of turn 3. The Spaniard will finally regain his property in the same place on the 15th lap.

Juncadella penalized, Rast promoted

We finally had to wait until the last five minutes for everything to be restarted for victory following the stop at the side of the track of Timo Glock's BMW M4.

Dani Juncadella controls Mike Rockenfeller when the race resumes, and the Spaniard thinks he is heading quietly towards a second victory in DTM this year, but a drive-through is imposed on the leader for an infraction during the restart procedure.

Can you believe this… #DJ23 loses the well-deserved race win due to a drive through penalty in the final moments of the race…#DTMSpielberg  #ranDTM pic.twitter.com/nApAF3iKFt

— Mercedes-AMG DTM (@MercedesAMGDTM) September 22, 2018

Which virtually gives Mike Rockenfeller control of the event, but in turn in the last meters of the race, Rockenfeller and Nico Müller will fade away to leave victory to René Rast, the best placed driver of the brand with the rings in the championship.

Dani Juncadella's drive-through was finally converted into a 30″ penalty and Rast therefore won ahead of Rockenfeller and Müller. Fourth, Paul di Resta (Mercedes) performed well by regaining the lead in the championship against Gary Paffett, only 11th.

Jamie Green (Audi), Lucas Auer (Mercedes), Marco Wittmann (BMW), Philipp Eng (BMW), Edoardo Mortara (Mercedes) and Augusto Farfus (BMW) complete the top 10.

One time at the head of the event after the entire peloton stopped, Sébastien Ogier (Mercedes), guest driver for this Austrian race, finished this Saturday in 12th place.

Race 1 ranking