Audi reluctantly accept race results

The race was thrown into chaos with two safety car periods, and several drivers believe that the running order was disrupted by people making pitstops when the pits were closed.

Some of Audi's drivers had hoped that the race results would be challenged, but the team eventually decided against it.

"The way the race went, as well as the result, weren't to our liking," said Audi's head of motorsport Wolfgang Ullrich.

"In the interest of sport, we have accepted the stewards' decision to count the race with this particular result, and congratulate Mika Hakkinen on his second DTM victory."

Mattias Ekstrom had been set to finish fourth in the race, but the Swede was ordered to make another pit stop because the officials deemed that his first stop took place when the pit lane was closed.

Race officials admitted that they had made mistakes while the safety car was out, and they even deployed it a second time just to rectify the situation.

However, Martin Tomczyk, who eventually finished ninth, felt that he should have been a lot higher in the standings.

"I don't know where I really was," he told autosport.com. "At one point I think I was third, then some of us were waved past the safety car and suddenly I was 13th.

"For me the result is wrong. After the safety car I just had to drive my own race, but some cars were not where they should be."