Phillip Ellis has taken his first victory in DTM, charging up from ninth on the grid in a race of attrition to beat Liam Lawson to the flag.
The Swiss driver started in the midfield but quickly made his way up the grid and put himself in podium position after a safety car, caused by a crash for T3 Motorsport’s Esmee Hawkey.
At the restart, Ellis wrestled his Team Winward Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo into second place behind polesitter Sheldon van der Linde.
Ellis remained behind the South African after the pitstops but steadily began closing the gap, eventually passing Van der Linde at turn one, going on to take his maiden win.
In order to win, Ellis did have to fend off Monza race winner Liam Lawson, who also overtook Van der Linde and put pressure on the Mercedes, but eventually had to settle for second.
Ellis becomes the third different race winners from three races in DTM, also becoming the third consecutive rookie to win after Lawson and Kelvin van der Linde.
Mike Rockenfeller finished the race in third place, with Van der Linde fourth and Alex Albon rounding out the top five in his AlphaTauri AF Corse Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo.
Lucas Auer finished sixth ahead of Marco Wittmann and Esteban Muth, with Sheldon van der Linde ultimately classified ninth after a five-second penalty for a pitstop infringement.
Maxi Buhk completed the top ten, ahead of Timo Glock, Dev Gore and Nico Müller, who was the last car still running on track.
Numerous drivers retired from the race with mechanical issues, as Arjun Maini, Vincent Abril, Daniel Juncadella, Maxi Götz and Sophia Floersch all retiring in addition to Esmee Hawkey, who crashed on the second lap of the race.
| # | Driver | Car | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Philip Ellis | Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo | |
| 2 | Liam Lawson | Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020 | 1.682 |
| 3 | Mike Rockenfeller | Audi R8 LMS Evo | 5.833 |
| 4 | Kelvin van der Linde | Audi R8 LMS Evo | 6.789 |
| 5 | Alex Albon | Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020 | 7.797 |
| 6 | Lucas Auer | Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo | 9.019 |
| 7 | Marco Wittmann | BMW M6 GT3 | 9.336 |
| 8 | Esteban Muth | Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo | 9.649 |
| 9 | Sheldon Van Der Linde | BMW M6 GT3 | 10.314 |
| 10 | Maximilian Buhk | Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo | 24.388 |
| 11 | Timo Glock | BMW M6 GT3 | 26.444 |
| 12 | Dev Gore | Audi R8 LMS Evo | 34.073 |
| 13 | Nico Müller | Audi R8 LMS Evo | 34.090 |
| 14 | Arjun Maini | Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo | 14 Laps |
| 15 | Vincent Abril | Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo | 16 Laps |
| 16 | Daniel Juncadella | Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo | 25 Laps |
| 17 | Maximilian Götz | Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo | 26 Laps |
| 18 | Sophia Flörsch | Audi R8 LMS Evo | 32 Laps |
| 19 | Esmee Hawkey | Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo | 34 Laps |
