Audi Sport Team Rosberg driver René Rast scored a hard-fought victory in Saturday’s race at Hockenheim, with the reigning champion further closing the gap in the championship as Mercedes-AMG’s Gary Paffett and Paul di Resta could only manage fourth and eighth positions respectively.

At the start, Mercedes-AMG’s Lucas Auer made his pole position count to take the lead ahead of Paffett and BMW’s Augusto Farfus, who got ahead of Audi driver Rast. Auer opened the door for Paffett at Mercedes, with the Briton building a gap over his pursuers.

Paul di Resta overtook Audi Sport Team Abt Sportline’s Robin Frijns for fifth position on the second lap, closing the gap to Rast, still behind Farfus. The reigning champion managed to overtake for third place on lap four, making a move a lap later at Turn 6 to take second place, 1.7 seconds behind Paffett.

Behind the Audi driver, Frijns took di Resta’s inside at the hairpint, with the Mercedes-AMG driver also losing to BMW’s Timo Glock. As Farfus overtook Auer for third, the Austrian retired to the pits at the end of the lap due to a problem with the throttle.

Frijns had to exchange positions with di Resta as a penalty for pushing him out of the track, with Glock overtaking Farfus to take third position on lap eight. Di Resta would follow suit four laps later, with Frijns also taking fifth position from the Brazilian.

Rast pitted at the end of lap 13, the first of the front runners to do so. Paffett mirrored the strategy, coming in on the following lap, returning to the track just ahead of Rast, whose tyres were already up to temperature. The Audi driver closed the gap to just a couple of tenths, trying to overtake on the outside of Turn 6 on lap 16, but going wide. Paffett stayed ahead, but Rast remained side-by-side with the Briton, overtaking at Mercedes.

Further back di Resta, who pitted a lap later than Paffett, also had a door-to-door battle with Glock, overtaking the BMW driver also at Mercedes.

Paffett attacked Rast again on lap 22, with the Mercedes-AMG making contact with the Audi on several occasions. On the following lap, Paffett went to Rast’s outside at Turn 6, with both side by side until the Briton managed to stay ahead at Mercedes. The reigning champion took the lead back again at Turn 6 on the following lap, with Paffett losing some bodywork in the process.

Hostilities continued until the safety car was called into action on lap 26 due to Augusto Farfus losing his driver’s side door after contact with Audi’s Loïc Duval. All drivers had already completed their compulsory pit stop, with Rast leading ahead of Paffett and his team-mate at HWA Daniel Juncadella, who had recovered to third after starting from 13th on the grid.

The race was restarted two laps later, with Glock getting ahead of Juncadella, who also lost to Duval, di Resta and Frijns, who overtook the Scot for fifth position.

Glock took second place from Paffett on lap 28 at Turn 6, with Frijns also overtaking Duval and soon coming under the Briton’s bumper, as the Mercedes-AMG driver was having problems. Frijns attacked Paffett at Turn 6 on lap 32, with the Briton making contact with Glock.

As Paffett slowed, the Dutch driver from Audi took third place now attacking Glock, and overtaking on lap 33. Further behind, di Resta lost to Audi drivers Nico Müller and Mike Rockenfeller, falling to eighth place.

Rast took his fifth straight victory, followed by Frijns and Glock on the podium, with Paffett only managing to finish fourth.

Audi drivers Duval, Rockenfeller and Müller were next, with di Resta taking the chequered flag in eighth place. BMW’s Bruno Spengler and Mercedes-AMG’s Edoardo Mortara completed the top ten.

Paffett now retakes the lead of the championship on 239 points, six ahead of di Resta and 15 ahead of Rast, going into tomorrow’s final race of the season.

Action will resume tomorrow morning at 9:00 CEST for the third and final free practice session.