Martin Tomczyk takes DTM title at Valencia as Mattias Ekstrom wins race

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 fifth, the Spaniard having lost out to his Abt team-mate 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.

Results - 45 laps:

Pos  Driver                Team/Car                Time/Gap
 1.  Mattias Ekstrom       Abt Audi            1h10m45.452s
 2.  Filipe Albuquerque    Rosberg Audi           + 18.103s
 3.  Martin Tomczyk        Phoenix Audi           + 33.950s
 4.  Timo Scheider         Abt Audi               + 34.346s
 5.  Miguel Molina         Abt Audi               + 39.788s
 6.  Oliver Jarvis         Abt Audi               + 40.655s
 7.  Bruno Spengler        HWA Mercedes           + 41.238s
 8.  Gary Paffett          HWA Mercedes           + 41.791s
 9.  Mike Rockenfeller     Abt Audi               + 44.671s
10.  Jamie Green           HWA Mercedes           + 45.971s
11.  Susie Stoddart        Persson Mercedes       + 49.720s
12.  Christian Vietoris    Persson Mercedes       + 50.736s
13.  Ralf Schumacher       HWA Mercedes           + 52.686s
14.  Rahel Frey            Phoenix Audi         + 1m02.877s
15.  Maro Engel            Mucke Mercedes       + 1m16.230s

Retirements/not classified:

     Edoardo Mortara       Rosberg Audi             42 laps
     Renger van der Zande  Persson Mercedes  Not classified
     David Coulthard       Mucke Mercedes    Not classified