Victories for Mercedes, BMW in the DTM season opener at Hockenheim

Gary Paffett and Timo Glock are the race winners in the season-opening round of the 2018 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters season at Hockenheimring. The 37-year-old Briton won the first race in the #2 Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM while the 36-year-old German racer triumphed in the second race at the wheel of the #16 BMW M4 DTM.

Gary Paffett is celebrating his 21st DTM victory

Gary Paffett scored his 21st DTM victory almost five years after his previous win in June 2013. At Hockenheimring, he won ahead of Mercedes teammate Lucas Auer, crossing the finish line 1.449 seconds ahead of him. Timo Glock completed the podium after the first race. It was the race to forget for Audi as their best driver was in the ninth place. It was the reigning champion Rene Rast.

On Sunday, the race was slightly more successful for Audi as Mike Rockenfeller finished in the second place. A victory goes to Timo Glock after an intense fight against Gary Paffet for most of the race. They changed in the leading position several times, delighting a crowd at Hockenheim’s stands. After all, Glock managed to score his 5th DTM victory in a career while Paffett lost P2 to Rockenfeller. BMW’s rookie Joel Eriksson was in the second place for a moment but he finished fourth.

Timo Glock

The DTM meeting at Hockenhemring was the last for Mattias Ekstrom, who will focus his future career on rallycross. Before leaving DTM, he finished 17th in Saturday’s race and 16th in Sunday’s race.

After two of this season’s 20 races, Timo Glock is leading the DTM drivers’ standings with 44 points, one point ahead of Gary Paffett. Mike Rockenfeller, Lucas Auer and Pascal Wehrlein are in the following positions, each tied at 18 points.

The championship will resume for two weeks at the EuroSpeedway Lausitz.

Check the full results of DTM races at Hockenheimring

Photos: DTM,