Paul di Resta wins the first ever DTM night race at Misano

Paul di Resta (Mercedes) wins the first race of the DTM meeting at Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli in Italy, the first ever night race in the history of the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters. The Briton in the #3 Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM started from pole, scored his third win of the season and came close to the championship leader Gary Paffett by just one point.

Gary Paffett retired on Lap 8 from after a contact with Edo Mortara. Paffett was running in the second place before he went wide and then touched Mortara’s Mercedes when he was returning on the track. A damage on a car forced Paffett to stop and the Safety Car was out for the first time.

On the restart, Phillip Eng took the lead from Paul di Resta but one more Safety Car period followed immediately when Lucas Auer and Bruno Spengler stopped on the track. Audi drivers Jamie Green and Rene Rast also retired in that lap with damaged cars.

Paul di Resta dedicated a victory to hospitalized Canadian racer Robert Wickens

On the next restart, Paul di Resta retook the lead from Philipp Eng but the Briton in the #3 Mercedes made a mistake and the Austrian in the #25 BMW was back on the top. He stayed in P1 until Lap 25 when both Di Resta and Mortara passed by him. After that, Eng lost a pace and dropped to P8 by the end of the race. Robin Frijns stole the P2 from Edo Mortara on the last lap after an intensive fight with few touches.

There were nineteen drivers in Misano’s DTM race, one more than usual The Italian racing legend Alex Zanardi participated as a guest in the #12 BMW M4 DTM, finishing the race in the thirteenth place.