Audi Sport’s René Rast and Mercedes AMG’s Lucas Auer have received penalties after the stewards ruled on two separate incidents in today’s DTM season opener at Hockenheim.

Reigning champion Rast was investigated for an unsafe release, after coming side-by-side with Mercedes’ Daniel Juncadella in the pit lane as both pitted on lap 22. The stewards found that Rast had used the work lane to accelerate instead of joining the fast lane, handing the Audi driver a warning for misusing the work lane.

Juncadella said to TouringCarTmes: “I don’t think there was anything in there as we didn’t touch, but he is at the end of the pitlane, so he was able to accelerate straight on. I think they should put some cones or something after their work area to avoid this happening again.”

Auer was investigated for a infringement of article 45.3.1 in the sporting regulations, which establishes the limitations for the post-qualifying parc fermé. Team mechanics brought a cooling fan to the grid, which is forbidden, but the stewards ruled that there hadn’t been any competitive advantage as it wasn’t used. Auer was fined 1,000€ for the infringement.