Audi strongest manufacturer at the DTM in Italy

For the first time this season, all six Audi RS5 DTM finished in the points. Earning a total of 92 points, Audi was the strongest manufacturer in Misano. In a repeat of the previous evening, changeable weather conditions played a decisive role on Sunday evening.

After another rainy qualifying session, at which the Audi Sport Team Phoenix driver Loic Duval scored the first pole position in his DTM career, the race started on a damp track.

However, unlike at Saturday's race, the track did not dry up this time. This was due to a heavy downpour early on in the race, just after almost all competitors had switched from wet tyres to slicks.

When the race director deployed the safety car after Lucas Auer slid from the track in his Mercedes-Benz, the weather gamble ultimately proved advantageous for the five drivers who at this stage had not yet come in to the pits: Joel Eriksson (BMW), Edoardo Mortara (Mercedes-Benz), the two Audi pilots Rene Rast and Robin Frijns as well as guest driver Alessandro Zanardi (BMW).

Thanks to the safety car phase, they gained a lap and concluded the race in the first five positions.

"What a crazy race," said Rast. "I got away well at the start from fifth on the grid and was immediately in third before almost being shunted into a spin in Turn 2. I thought that would be the end of my race, but somehow I managed to control the car. When the safety car came out and I hadn't yet taken my pit stop, I thought we'd lost the race. Instead, we managed to score third place."