DTM firms up Shanghai finale

The race will mark the category's return to the city of Shanghai after first racing on a street circuit there in 2004, which was a non-championship event won by Gary Paffett.

Hans Werner Aufrecht, chairman of the board for series promoter the ITR said: "The contract is ready now, and we will be there on the 26-28 November this year.

"We know what is happening in the Chinese market. The car market will be, in the near future, the number one in the world.

"That is the reason why we have built this platform for our manufacturers to showcase their products in this very important market."

The Chinese race, to be held on a new street circuit layout close to the setting for the 2004 race, will be promoted by the Brilliance Culture Group, which was also involved in the previous event.

Brilliance managing director Maggie Ip added: "The government has spent a lot of money building the city, and we simply want to have the best race possible. It is only five minutes by car from where we raced in 2004."

The track layout has not quite been finalised, but this will be taken care of when senior figures from the German motorsport authority (DMSB) visit Shanghai in July.

DMSB technical delegate Christian Schacht said: "It is not possible to give full details of the race yet, because we want to make sure that we do everything to make this a proper race to the standards we have when we are in Europe.

"It is not an easy exercise to do flyaway races, so it's going to be a challenging undertaking for all of us for a championship round this time, where the championship could be decided."