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DTM Brands Hatch: Di Resta fends off Paffett to win race two

Paul di Resta secured his second DTM victory of the season in Sunday's second race at Brands Hatch, fending off his points-leading Mercedes stablemate Gary Paffett

Di Resta managed to pass polesitter Paffett at the start of the race, hanging on around the outside at Paddock Hill Bend and Druids, before slipping up the inside at Graham Hill Bend.

A safety car period was triggered when the Mercedes of Lucas Auer was clipped exiting Graham Hill by Robin Frijns' Audi, while Augusto Farfus's BMW sustained damage when it was also clipped by the Audi.

But di Resta held the lead in the two-by-two formation restart, and maintained a slender advantage of less than a second before Paffett dived into the pits at the end of the eighth lap to serve his mandatory pitstop.

Di Resta came in the following lap but rejoined ahead of Paffett, and it was Audi driver Jamie Green who assumed the lead at this point of the race as the threat of rain hung in the air.

Green stayed out until the end of the 30th lap before finally making his stop, handing the lead back to di Resta - who duly went on to take the victory by 1s from Paffett to lead a Mercedes one-two.

Rene Rast stopped early to move ahead of ex-Formula 1 driver Pascal Wehrlein to take a net third early-on, and was able to close a 2s gap to the lead pair in the latter stages.

But the reigning champion couldn't find a way past Paffett and stayed third, his second podium finish of the season.

Green rejoined in fourth after making his stop, but he dropped behind Wehrlein on his outlap and then succumbed to BMW drive Marco Wittmann, edging the two-time champion onto the grass on the run to Surtees in the process.

That meant Green was given a drive-through penalty for forcing another driver onto the grass, which dropped the Audi driver out of the points. Wittmann was forced to fend off Audi's Mike Rockenfeller late on in the fight for fifth.

Philipp Eng (BMW) was seventh, ahead of the recovering Auer, while Saturday race winner Daniel Juncadella (Mercedes) and Nico Muller (Audi) rounded out the points positions.

Green ended up 15th after his penalty, only ahead of three drivers who hit trouble.

Loic Duval sustained a puncture late in the race, which cost him a chance of points, and Edoardo Mortara left his pitbox before his right-rear wheel was attached and was a late retirement.

Farfus retired as a result of his early damage.

Results - 40 laps

Pos Driver Team Car Gap
1 Paul Di Resta HWA Mercedes 56m23.282s
2 Gary Paffett HWA Mercedes 1.019s
3 Rene Rast Rosberg Audi 1.376s
4 Pascal Wehrlein HWA Mercedes 11.484s
5 Marco Wittmann RMG BMW 14.312s
6 Mike Rockenfeller Phoenix Audi 14.841s
7 Philipp Eng RMR BMW 17.239s
8 Lucas Auer HWA Mercedes 17.972s
9 Daniel Juncadella HWA Mercedes 18.505s
10 Nico Muller Abt Audi 20.798s
11 Timo Glock RMR BMW 21.764s
12 Robin Frijns Abt Audi 22.007s
13 Joel Eriksson RBM BMW 23.197s
14 Bruno Spengler RBM BMW 31.998s
15 Jamie Green Rosberg Audi 33.359s
16 Loic Duval Phoenix Audi 2 Laps
17 Edoardo Mortara HWA Mercedes 3 Laps
- Augusto Farfus RMG BMW Retirement



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