Nurburgring DTM: Muller bounces back to win Race 2
Nico Muller eased to his fifth DTM victory of the 2020 season at the Nurburgring on Sunday, beating title rivals Robin Frijns and Rene Rast to extend his lead in the drivers’ standings.
At the start of the race, Frijns pulled away cleanly from pole position, with Muller moving up to second after passing the WRT Audi of Ferdinand Habsburg, who had delivered a stellar lap in qualifying to put himself on the front row of the grid.
Rast also managed to clear Habsburg heading into the chicane on the second lap, putting the three championship leaders from the Audi fold at the head of the field.
Frijns was initially able to build an advantage of over one second over his rivals, but Muller brought down the deficit to his Abt Audi teammate to just 0.5s by the end of lap 5.
Two laps later, Muller executed a textbook pass on Frijns heading into Turn 1, moving into the lead for the first time.
Frijns subsequently fell into the clutches of Rast, but the Team Rosberg driver was unable to close the gap sufficiently to attempt a move.
With an on-track pass appearing impossible, Rast tried to undercut Frijns by making his stop on lap 13, but that trick failed when Frijns emerged out of the pits two laps later with a healthy two-second gap.
Out in front, Muller extended his lead to over five seconds after the pitstop, laying the foundation of his second victory in four races.
It also marked a reversal of fortunes for the Swiss driver, who finished down in fifth in Race 1 on Saturday after being turned around by Audi stablemate Jamie Green.
Frijns eventually finished 11.790s behind Muller in second, slipping 18 points behind his Abt teammate in the drivers’ standings.
Rast was unable to stay in touch with the leading duo in the second half of the race, eventually crossing the line 19.526s off Muller after 41 laps of racing.
Sheldon van der Linde finished as the top BMW driver in fourth, ahead of Marco Wittmann, who delivered BMW’s sole podium of the Nurburgring Sprint weekend in Race 1 on Saturday.
Habsburg rapidly slipped down the order in the opening stint, but appeared to be much quicker in the second half of the race, finishing just over a second behind Wittmann in sixth.
Audi driver Mike Rockenfeller was classified seventh after passing the BMW of Timo Glock five laps from the finish. Loic Duval (Audi) and Jonathan Aberdein (BMW) rounded out the points scorers in ninth and 10th respectively.
Formula 1 convert Robert Kubica suffered heartbreak when he was forced to pull into the ART BMW garage with a gearbox issue while running in a points-scoring position.
The Polish driver had qualified a career-best seventh and had moved up to sixth in the opening stages of the race, although was set to drop down the order after being hit with a five-second penalty for incorrectly lining up on the grid.
Race 2 results:
| Cla | # | Driver | Car | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 51 |  Nico Müller | Audi RS5 Turbo DTM 2020 | |
| 2 | 4 |  Robin Frijns | Audi RS5 Turbo DTM 2020 | 11.790 |
| 3 | 33 |  René Rast | Audi RS5 Turbo DTM 2020 | 19.526 |
| 4 | 31 |  Sheldon Van Der Linde | BMW M4 Turbo DTM 2020 | 22.733 |
| 5 | 11 | Marco Wittmann | BMW M4 Turbo DTM 2020 | 24.016 |
| 6 | 62 |  Ferdinand Habsburg | Audi RS5 Turbo DTM 2020 | 25.713 |
| 7 | 99 | Mike Rockenfeller | Audi RS5 Turbo DTM 2020 | 30.162 |
| 8 | 16 | Timo Glock | BMW M4 Turbo DTM 2020 | 33.795 |
| 9 | 28 |  Loic Duval | Audi RS5 Turbo DTM 2020 | 40.763 |
| 10 | 27 | Jonathan Aberdein | BMW M4 Turbo DTM 2020 | 44.264 |
| 11 | 10 |  Harrison Newey | Audi RS5 Turbo DTM 2020 | 44.645 |
| 12 | 25 | Philipp Eng | BMW M4 Turbo DTM 2020 | 45.058 |
| 13 | 22 | Lucas Auer | BMW M4 Turbo DTM 2020 | 45.523 |
| 14 | 13 | Fabio Scherer | Audi RS5 Turbo DTM 2020 | 46.347 |
| 15 | 53 | Jamie Green | Audi RS5 Turbo DTM 2020 | 6 Laps |
| View full results | ||||
Previous article
DTM future secured with support from Audi and BMW
Next article
Audi wraps up DTM manufacturers' title in record time
About this article
| Series | DTM |
| Event | Nurburgring Sprint |
| Sub-event | Race 2 |
| Author | Rachit Thukral |
WRT Team Audi Sport – 2020 DTM Season Review
DTM 2020: Audi bids farewell
DTM: Hockenheim - Race 2 Highlights
DTM 2020: Race 1 highlights – Hockenheim
DTM: Hockenheim - Race 1 Highlights
The slow-burner threatening to unseat Audi's DTM king
It's taken him a while to emerge as a consistent title challenger, but in the final year of DTM's Class One ruleset, Nico Muller has smoothed the rough edges and has double champion stablemate Rene Rast working harder than ever to keep up in the title race.
Does 2000 hold the answers to the DTM's current crisis?
It's 20 years since the DTM roared back into life at a packed Hockenheim with a back-to-basics approach as the antidote to its high-tech past. Now it's on its knees again, so is it time to recall the lessons learned in 2000?
Ranking the 10 best Audi DTM drivers
Audi last week announced it would be exiting the DTM at the end of 2020, bringing the curtain down on 20 years of continuous participation since the series' reboot in 2000.
Why the DTM must reinvent itself after Audi exit
Audi's announcement that it will withdraw from the DTM at the end of 2020 was the latest blow for a series that has lost three manufacturers in as many years. Some major soul-searching will now be required to assess how it can survive.
Why cynic Berger changed his mind over green tech in racing
DTM boss Gerhard Berger was a detractor of Formula E and held a reluctance for his series to embrace greener engine technologies. However, this cynic's tune has had to change to ensure DTM's existence as the motorsport world moves forward
What the fallout from Aston's engine split means for 2020
Aston Martin's DTM arrival, via the R-Motorsport outfit, was heralded as a salvation of sorts for the series. After plenty of bumps in the road in 2019, the team finds itself in a similar position to the one it was in 12 months ago. Can it get its act together?
How the DTM and Super GT can build on their experiment
The Class One 'Dream Race' staged by the DTM and SUPER GT proved a hit - from a competitive and collaborative standpoint. The next step will be for both parties to ensure a successful trial ends up being more than just that.
Robot pitcrews and hydrogen – is DTM's concept plausible?
DTM organiser ITR has mooted a radical plan for a "truly new and inspiring" future motorsport series. How realistic are its suggestions of automated pitstops and 1000bhp hydrogen-fuelled touring cars?
