Wehrlein leads DTM title battle with Moscow win

HWA's Pascal Wehrlein has retaken the lead of the DTM points battle after winning the first race of the weekend at the Moscow Raceway as Audi's Mattias Ekstrom hits trouble.

The Mercedes F1 reserve driver - starting on the front row for the opening race - took his second win of the 2015 season, which has given Wehrlein an eight point lead over Ekstrom in the championship standings.

Ekstrom collided with BMW's Timo Glock when attempting an overtake on the former F1-driver. Ultimately the move failed and the pair both careered off into the tyre barriers.

Pole man Marco Wittmann led away from the front of the field but an early safety car - caused by Christian Vietoris running into the stricken Audi of Miguel Molina on the opening lap - meant the defending champion was unable to get away from Wehrlein's C63 machine.

Wehrlein persisted for the majority of the afternoon and received his just reward when the HWA driver made a move stick for the lead during the later part of the race.

Behind the leading pair, Team Rosberg's Jamie Green was looking to reignite his title charge after losing the points lead earlier in the season but the Audi driver lost out to BMW's Bruno Spengler on the final lap in their battle for third.

Green ended up fourth with Daniel Juncadella and Edoardo Mortara following the Brit in close company and completed the top-six order.

ART Grand Prix's Gary Paffett recovered from his lowly starting position and fought his way from 20th to seventh.

BMW's Tom Blomqvist followed his countryman home in eighth position while Nico Muller and Mike Rockenfeller scored the final points on offer in ninth and tenth.

Standing in for suspended Timo Scheider, Team Phoenix's Antonio Giovinazzi finished in 19th as the last classified runner of the afternoon.