Rast wins opening Nurburgring race for Audi

Reigning DTM champion Rene Rast has taken his second victory of the 2018 season for Audi after beating BMW's Bruno Spengler to the race one win at the Nurburgring.

The Audi RS 5 driver took the win by just under a second ahead of Team RBM's Spengler after starting the opening race from pole position.

Rast's second win of the season has moved the Team Rosberg driver back up into the top-five of the DTM drivers' standings, albeit 73-points behind new leader Gary Paffett.

Paffett took the final podium position in third to reclaim the DTM points lead ahead of his Mercedes team mate Paul di Resta, who suffered contact early in the race and finished out of the points paying positions in last, as a result.

Just eight points separate the two former champions, while fellow Mercedes driver Edoardo Mortara sits a further 56-points back from Paffett in third.

Former F1-star Timo Glock finished just 0.4 adrift of Paffett's podium position in fourth, while Marco Wittmann completed the top-five order for BMW in fifth.

Pascal Wehrlein was the next best placed Mercedes driver in seventh, marginally ahead of Loic Duval in eighth for Audi.

Augusto Farfus and Nico Muller completed the remainder of the points paying positions in ninth and tenth.