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Mercedes driver Pascal Wehrlein is the 2015 DTM champion, having secured the title in a scrappy Hockenheim race won by Audi's Timo Scheider.

Formula 1 reserve driver Wehrlein crossed the line in eighth, more than enough to wrap up the championship with one race to spare, as the men looking to snatch it from him had days to forget.

Mattias Ekstrom started the race best of the group in seventh, but was slow off the line and then turned around at the hairpin by Robert Wickens on the third lap, before charging back to ninth.

Bruno Spengler made a fast start from 18th to run ninth early, but was handed a drive-through penalty for first-lap contact with Adrien Tambay and eventually retired.

Edoardo Mortara clashed with Audi stablemate Miguel Molina on the first lap, pitted to replace a puncture, turned Timo Glock around, served a drive-through penalty and later retired.

That all meant Wehrlein would have won the title regardless.

He dropped from 13th to 16th on the first lap, after a slow start and running wide at Turn 2, but progressed over the remainder of the 40 minutes, despite some hairy moments while fighting BMW's Martin Tomczyk.

A day before his 21st birthday, Wehrlein becomes the youngest-ever DTM champion.

One of the oldest drivers in the field, 36-year-old Scheider dominated the race.

From second on the grid, he grabbed the lead from polesitter Maxime Martin early, then romped away to lead by nearly five seconds, before winning by 2.8s.

Having started the day 23rd in the standings, Scheider's victory is his first since October 2010.

Jamie Green got past Martin and finished second, his first podium since the Lausitzring round in May.

Paul di Resta took fourth, ahead of Mike Rockenfeller, Marco Wittmann, Tom Blomqvist and Wehrlein.

The race was delayed by a safety car period following a clash between Gary Paffett and Molina, which forced the Brit out of the race.

RESULTS - 26 LAPS:

Pos Driver Team Car Gap 1 Timo Scheider Phoenix Audi 42m27.725s 2 Jamie Green Rosberg Audi 2.875s 3 Maxime Martin RMG BMW 3.756s 4 Paul Di Resta HWA Mercedes 4.865s 5 Mike Rockenfeller Phoenix Audi 11.708s 6 Marco Wittmann RMG BMW 15.768s 7 Tom Blomqvist RBM BMW 16.972s 8 Pascal Wehrlein HWA Mercedes 22.034s 9 Mattias Ekstrom Abt Audi 23.719s 10 Maximilian Gotz Mucke Mercedes 24.137s 11 Antonio Felix da Costa Schnitzer BMW 25.405s 12 Christian Vietoris HWA Mercedes 25.597s 13 Daniel Juncadella Mucke Mercedes 26.780s 14 Nico Muller Rosberg Audi 32.108s 15 Martin Tomczyk Schnitzer BMW 41.299s 16 Lucas Auer ART Mercedes 43.679s 17 Miguel Molina Abt Audi 1m01.566s 18 Timo Glock MTEK BMW 2 Laps 19 Bruno Spengler MTEK BMW 6 Laps - Edoardo Mortara Abt Audi Retirement - Robert Wickens HWA Mercedes Retirement - Augusto Farfus RBM BMW Retirement - Gary Paffett ART Mercedes Retirement - Adrien Tambay Abt Audi Retirement

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