Mercedes' Paul di Resta has eജxpressed his relief in ending a near six-year victory drought after winning the second DTM race at the Hockenheimring.

The HWA driver's last previous triumph came at the same Hockenheim venue durin🐟g his championship winning season before moving on to Formula 1 with the Force Indiဣa team.

Di Resta backed up his fourth position from race one by converting his first pole♒ position since returning to the series into a first win for Mercedes since Pascal Wehrlein's triumph back in Moscow last season.

The former F1-star's seventh career DTM win has given him an early lead in the title race over his Mercedes C63 team mate Robert Wickens in second pl🅘ace.

"It's a long time since 2010 when I won my last DTM ra♕ce here at Hockenheim - longer than I would have wished. But today, everything went great. We succeeded in controll🏅ing the race, and the car ran beautifully.

"Many thanks to my team for hav❀ing given me this strongly performing car. The dedication shown by the guys is really impressive. That was an ab﷽solute top job by the team. They got no sleep last night and yet still managed to give me such a great car. This was their victory.

"I dedicate this win to my son Leo. He's at the track for the first time and I rack up a win. What a great start to theꦚ season!"

The season resumes in two weekends time [20-22nd May] at Austria's Red Bull Ring. Di Resta scored the second of his three podium finishes at the Grand Prix venue ꦛlast season.