Ekstrom and Audi dominate Zandvoort

The reigning champion was never headed throughout the 38-lap event, but he sustained race-long pressure from championship leader Timo Scheider, who finished the race just two tenths of a second behind his Abt Sportsline teammate.

Tom Kristensen took a comfortable third in another 2008-spec A4, while Martin Tomczyk took advantage of a good start to climb from sixth to fourth, where he remained until the finish.

Bruno Spengler won the battle of the Mercedes drivers to take fifth place, but the Canadian was more than 20 seconds adrift of Ekstrom, and 11 seconds behind fourth place.

Jamie Green had been the fastest Mercedes in qualifying, but the Norisring winner fluffed his start, dropping him from fourth to seventh. He got ahead of Paul di Resta during the first round of pitstops though, and then shadowed Spengler to the finish.

Di Resta did not get a chance to reclaim the place later on, as he lost several seconds with a sticking wheel during his second stop. Fortunately for him, the battle for eighth place was so far behind that he held on to seventh.

Mike Rockenfeller's 2007 Audi held the final point for the majority of the race, but after a wheel-banging session with Bernd Schneider on the penultimate lap, both were passed by Markus Winkelhock.

Pos  Driver               Car         Time
 1.  Mattias Ekström      Audi        1:01:03.298
 2.  Timo Scheider        Audi        + 0.270
 3.  Tom Kristensen       Audi        + 6.760
 4.  Martin Tomczyk       Audi        + 10.183
 5.  Bruno Spengler       Mercedes    + 21.919
 6.  Jamie Green          Mercedes    + 23.079
 7.  Paul Di Resta        Mercedes    + 45.910
 8.  M.Winkelhock         Audi        + 49.564
 9.  Bernd Schneider      Mercedes    + 50.576
10.  M.Rockenfeller       Audi        + 53.394
11.  Gary Paffett         Mercedes    + 1:14.680
12.  Ralf Schumacher      Mercedes    + 1:22.425
13.  Mathias Lauda        Mercedes    + 1:25.631
14.  Maro Engel           Mercedes    + 1:29.071
15.  Susie Stoddart       Mercedes    1 Lap
16.  Katherine Legge      Audi        5 Laps
17.  Oliver Jarvis        Audi        9 Laps

Retirements:

Driver                    Car         Laps
Alexandre Prémat          Audi        18 Laps
Christijan Albers         Audi        1 Lap