BMW’s Marco Wittmann extended his championship lead with a controlled victory during Saturday’s 40-minute DTM race at the Nurburgring.

Wittmann – who inherited his pole position after fastest qualifier Lucas Auer received a five-place grid drop – got off the line well and stretched his lead gradually over the race, eventually leading home stablemate Tom Blomqvist by 7.136 seconds.

The race included several incidents, the most dramatic of which included the cars of Blomqvist, Edoardo Mortara, Daniel Juncadella and Bruno Spengler.

Mortara missed the chicane on lap 16, gaining an advantage over Blomqvist behind, but as he let the latter back through, Mercedes’ Juncadella pulled alongside and the trio raced towards Turn 1.

As they negotiated the first sector, Spengler joined the fray in his BMW, but when he dived down the inside of Juncadella’s car at the tight Turn 6 he made contact and spun the Spaniard off, earning a drive-through penalty.

Later that lap at the same point, Gary Paffett was hit off the rack by Timo Scheider, who also earned a penalty.

Adrien Tambay was also penalised for contact early on with Augusto Farfus, but the Frenchman retired shortly after and therefore did not serve it.

He was one of only two retirements during the race, the other being fellow Audi driver Mattias Ekstrom, who suffered damage in a botched overtaking manoeuvre on Maximilian Gotz at the chicane.

Behind Wittmann and Blomqvist, Audi’s Jamie Green completed the podium, with Mortara in fourth.

Timo Glock pulled a brilliant move on Auer earlier in the race around the outside at Turn 1 and finished fifth for his efforts.

Paul di Resta, Auer, Maxime Martin, Robert Wickens and Gotz completed the top 10.

The result means that Wittmann’s lead in the championship over Mercedes driver Wickens stretches to 35 points with five races remaining.

RESULTS – 30 LAPS:

Another DTM podium for Blomqvist at the Nurburgring