Mattias Ekstrom continued his fine recent form with another DTM win at Valencia, but the spotlight was on fellow Audi driver Martin Tomczyk, who finished third to wrap up the championship.
Ekstrom was in a class of his own during the race, building a five-second lead over Filipe Albuquerque before the pit window opened and eventually winning by over double that margin.
It was the Abt driver's third win in the last four races, but his performance was matched by that of Albuquerque, who took his old-spec Rosberg Audi to his first DTM podium finish.
Tomczyk's run to third began with a rocket start from 10th on the grid. The Phoenix Audi driver was sixth at the end of the opening lap and moved ahead of the old-spec Mercedes of David Coulthard and Renger van der Zande, plus Timo Scheider's Abt Audi at the second round of stops to become the first man in an old-spec car to become DTM champion.
Coulthard and van der Zande, who had run third and fourth early on for the Mucke and Persson teams respectively, were also passed by Scheider during the stops as the two-time champion ran an ultra-long first stint and gained time on the clear track.
Scheider finished fourth ahead of van der Zande – who took the best result of his DTM career – and Coulthard, although the Mercedes men were racing under appeal after their cars failed post-qualifying checks and under new rules introduced this year, will not be classified in the official results unless an appeal is successful.
Miguel Molina was next up and classified a seaon's best fifth, the Spaniard having lost out to his Abt teammate Oliver Jarvis at the first round of stops, but passing the Briton into Turn 1 on lap 16.
Jamie Green ran ahead of his HWA team-mate Bruno Spengler during the race, but allowed the Canadian past on the final lap to take ninth on the road and seventh in the results, the extra point possibly proving crucial in his battle with Ekstrom for second in the championship.
Gary Paffett completed the points scorers in eighth and was followed home by Abt's Mike Rockenfeller – who started dismally from fifth on the grid – and Green.