Green had controlled the race from the start and looked to have the win sewn up despite a late safety car brought out by Lucas Auer.

But his car slowed dramatically in the dying minutes of the race, and dropped out of contention with smoke billowing out of his car, handing Rast the win.

Before Green's late-race heartbreak, most of the action in the race concerned the fight for the final podium spot, as BMW's Marco Wittmann faced off against points leader Mattias Ekstrom and his Audi teammates.

Ekstrom had started the race from eighth and dropped a place to BMW's Tom Blomqvist heading out of the first corner.

He then took his mandatory stop immediately on the first lap – and while Blomqvist tried to cover him off, pitting two laps later, Ekstrom edged past the Anglo-Swede on the run down to Turn 4.

Having been overtaken by Rockenfeller for third – both of them already well behind Green and Rast –Wittmann came in on lap 9, rejoining ahead of Ekstrom and keeping the spot despite them running side by side for several successive corners.

His tyres now up to temperature, Wittmann picked off a later-stopping Nico Muller with a crossover move at Turn 4 – and then went outside Rockenfeller for net third at the very same corner.

But as Rockenfeller slowed and allowed both Muller and Ekstrom by, the Swiss driver began to rapidly reel in Wittmann, eventually slipstreaming past the reigning champion – and appearing to slow the pace right after, backing off Wittmann towards his fellow Audi drivers.

The group dropped more than 10 seconds off the leaders as a result, but that deficit was negated when Auer was tapped into a spin by Bruno Spengler, touching the barriers and bringing out the safety car.

On the restart, Green held off Rast, while Rockenfeller passed Wittmann, slotting in behind Muller and making it an Audi 1-2-3-4.

This became an Audi 1-2-3 when Green slowed, allowing Rast to win and Rockenfeller to take second after being waved past by Muller on the final lap.

Mercedes driver Gary Paffett and Ekstrom had also dispatched Wittmann on the restart, Paffett then picking off the Swede to finish fourth.

Wittmann briefly re-took the spot from Ekstrom, but was consigned to sixth with a late move at Turn 3.

BMW's Timo Glock, Audi's Loic Duval and Mecedes duo Paul di Resta and Robert Wickens completed the top 10.

The outcome of the race leaves Ekstrom on 172 points to Rast's 151 heading into the Hockenheim decider.

Four other drivers – Green on 137, Rockenfeller and Wittmann on 134 and Auer on 131 – also retain a mathematical shot at the title.

Race results:

Pos.	#	Driver	Car	Gap
1	33	René Rast	Audi RS5 DTM	57'21.893
2	99	Mike Rockenfeller	Audi RS5 DTM	1.025
3	51	Nico Müller	Audi RS5 DTM	1.824
4	2	Gary Paffett	Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM	3.741
5	5	Mattias Ekström	Audi RS5 DTM	6.136
6	11	Marco Wittmann	BMW M4 DTM	7.968
7	16	Timo Glock	BMW M4 DTM	8.181
8	77	Loic Duval	Audi RS5 DTM	8.457
9	3	Paul di Resta	Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM	9.328
10	6	Robert Wickens	Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM	11.305
11	36	Maxime Martin	BMW M4 DTM	12.126
12	15	Augusto Farfus	BMW M4 DTM	12.696
13	31	Tom Blomqvist	BMW M4 DTM	14.745
14	53	Jamie Green	Audi RS5 DTM	16.754
15	63	Maro Engel	Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM	27.255
16	7	Bruno Spengler	BMW M4 DTM	28.571
17	48	Edoardo Mortara	Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM	7 laps
Ret	22	Lucas Auer	Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM	-