Paffett ends DTM victory drought
Gary Paffett sustained late-race pressure from Mercedes team-mate Bruno Spengler to take his first DTM win for two years at Lausitz
The Mercedes drivers moved up from fifth and sixth in the early stages of the race by leaving their pitstops later than those ahead. Paffett did not make his first stop until lap 25, while Spengler left his second stop late to make the same jump.
The Canadian then reduced a three-second gap to just 0.5 seconds in the closing stages, but he was unable to mount an attack.
Behind them, pole-sitter Mattias Ekstrom (Audi) remained ahead of the rest of the field, having led in the early stages. The Swede was under serious pressure from Paul di Resta at times, but the Scot's challenge was hurt by backmarkers.
Di Resta was closely followed across the line by Audi's reigning champion Timo Scheider, who had to defend quite aggressively from Jamie Green's 2008-spec Mercedes on a couple of occasions, as the Briton was another driver to use strategy to bring him into play.
Behind the top six, Mike Rockenfeller dropped to seventh after being second in the early stages of the race, while Maro Engel comfortably took the final point ahead of a late race scrap between Mathias Lauda and Ralf Schumacher.
Pos Driver Car Time
1. Gary Paffett Mercedes 1h10m01.572s
2. Bruno Spengler Mercedes + 1.115s
3. Mattias Ekstrom Audi + 14.228s
4. Paul di Resta Mercedes + 15.134s
5. Timo Scheider Audi + 15.755s
6. Jamie Green Mercedes + 16.326s
7. Mike Rockenfeller Audi + 31.172s
8. Maro Engel Mercedes + 41.546s
9. Mathias Lauda Mercedes + 49.968s
10. Ralf Schumacher Mercedes + 50.652s
11. Susie Stoddart Mercedes + 1m16.331s
12. Tom Kristensen Audi + 1 lap
13. Tomas Kostka Audi + 1 lap
14. Christian Bakkerud Audi + 1 lap
Retirements:
Alexandre Premat Audi 17 laps
Oliver Jarvis Audi 17 laps
Martin Tomczyk Audi 13 laps
Markus Winkelhock Audi 11 laps
Katherine Legge Audi 10 laps
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