Paffett crowned DTM champion

Paffett's only title rival, Mattias Ekstrom, was excluded for only completing one of the two mandatory pitstops, but he would only have finished seventh regardless, whereas he needed a win for a chance at the title.

The race started in wet conditions with Bernd Schneider making a brilliant getaway to lead poleman Jamie Green and Tom Kristensen. Paffett was fifth into the first corner, but he was shuffled back to sixth by Opel's Heinz-Harald Frentzen at the Mercedes arena.

Schneider pulled well clear of Green, leading by over six-seconds by his first mandatory pitstop on lap 16, when he changed on to slicks - as did the rest of the pack during the first round of stops.

Kristensen caught up with Green and passed him before the first pitstops, as the Briton's tyres went off, but Green stopped a lap earlier than Kristensen and got back out ahead of him thanks to an extra lap on slick tyres.

Although Green then closed slightly on Schneider in the middle of the race, a slow second pitstop consigned him to second, over eight seconds in arrears at the finish.

Paffett, meanwhile, made short work of Frentzen and then battled his way past the Audis of Frank Stippler and Kristensen to join colleagues Schneider and Green on the podium.

Paffett said: "After qualifying that far back, it was always my aim to seal the title with a podium finish. It's an incredible feeling to be champion."

His title rival Ekstrom had a shocking race once again. His pace was nowhere near the front runners, despite a strong start, and Audi's bizarre interpretation of the pitstop rules - pitting once but changing the tyres twice during the stop - meant he was excluded from his seventh place finish.

Kristensen finished fourth, ahead of Stippler and the leading Opel of Marcel Fassler. Bruno Spengler (Mercedes) was seventh, and Laurent Aiello (Opel) scored a point in his last ever race before retirement.

Frentzen crashed out with seven laps to go with an apparent mechanical failure that caused his Opel to go off heavily into the Sudkurve tyrewall.

The German appeared to be unconscious initially and required extricating from the car through the roof hatch. But he was talking to doctors and able to move all his limbs before being airlifted to hospital in Ludwigshaven for a check-up.

CLASSIFIED:

Pos  Driver            Make                    Time
 1.  Bernd Schneider   AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse   1h 02:12.480
 2.  Jamie Green       AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse   +      8.076
 3.  Gary Paffett      AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse   +     15.986
 4.  Tom Kristensen    Audi A4 DTM             +     16.593
 5.  Frank Stippler    Audi A4 DTM             +     26.818
 6.  Marcel Fassler    Opel Vectra GTS V8      +     42.911
 7.  Bruno Spengler    AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse   +     45.756
 8.  Laurent Aiello    Opel Vectra GTS V8      +     48.300
 9.  Pierre Kaffer     Audi A4 DTM             +     50.028
10.  Stefan Mucke      AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse   +     52.599
11.  Manuel Reuter     Opel Vectra GTS V8      +     59.043
12.  Jean Alesi        AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse   +     59.342
13.  Christian Abt     Audi A4 DTM             +     02.629
14.  Mika Hakkinen     AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse   +     16.053
15.  Rinaldo Capello   Audi A4 DTM             +     23.435
16.  Allan McNish      Audi A4 DTM             +     24.293
17.  H.H. Frentzen     Opel Vectra GTS V8      +     7 laps

NOT CLASSIFIED/RETIREMENTS:

     Driver            Make                    On Lap
     Martin Tomczyk    Audi A4 DTM               19
     A. Margaritis     AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse     18
     Mattias Ekstrom   Audi A4 DTM               -

Fastest lap: Jamie Green, 1:34.868 on lap 29