Rene Rast has taken his second consecutive victory of the season by beating Nico Müller and Robin Frijns to victory in changeable conditions at the Lausitzring.
Rast started the race from the front row behind polesitter Nico Müller but had a slow start and dropped to fourth place behind a quick starting Philipp Eng before repassing and settling into third behind Müller and Frijns, who quickly opened up a gap.
Rast then briefly lost third again as he had a brief trip to the gravel and was passed by Marco Wittmann on lap six but quickly regained the positions.
The order at the top of the field was then shaken up as the runners ditched their wet tyres for slicks during the pit stop window. Müller pitted one lap later than Frijns and Rast, which would cost him as he was outpaced by his rivals as well as BMW front runners Marco Wittmann and Philipp Eng, who had stopped on lap before.
Frijns moved into the lead of the race as Müller struggled on his cold slicks and also lost second to Eng, and one lap later dropped out of the podium positions altogether as Marco Wittmann made his way up to third place.
Müller then also dropped to fifth behind Rast as the two BMWs appeared in prime position to challenge Frijns. Eng first attempted to take the lead away from the Dutchman, but could not make his way past and relinquished second to colleague Wittmann.
Wittmann subsquently pressured for the lead, but Frijns stood his ground and the BMWs began to lose pace not soon after as both Rast and Müller moved back past Wittmann to moved back into podium position. Rast then took the race lead from Frijns on lap 27 and went on to win ahead of Müller and Frijns.
Timo Glock, who spun in qualifying, took fourth after a strong charge up the field that involved passing Wittmann in the closing stages. Mike Rockenfeller finished in sixth behind Wittmann, but ahead of Loic Duval and Philipp Eng. The Austrian dropped down the order after his lead challenge and finished eighth. The top ten was completed by Sheldon van der Linde and Jamie Green.
Ferdinand Habsburg disappointingly just missed out on a top ten finish. The Team WRT driver had started from the back row after a qualifying infringement but a strong start saw him in eighth at the end of the second lap, but went on to finish in eleventh.
Lucas Auer finished in twelfth, ahead of Fabio Scherer, Jonathan Aberdein, Harrison Newey and Robert Kubica.
