Ekstrom Reclaims Points Lead

Ekstrom and Paffett were embroiled in a thrilling battle for the lead, which lasted for most of the race, but Paffett just couldn't find a way past the Audi ace's stoic defence.

Opel held sway at the start, with Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Manuel Reuter both jumping past pole position man Jamie Green's Mercedes on the run to the first corner. Ekstrom jumped up to third from fifth on the grid, but Paffett, who started seventh, was soon on his tail.

With Opel opting for a long first stint strategy, this compromised its track position, allowing the Ekstrom/Paffett fight to take over at the head of the field after the first round of pitstops. Following the second mandatory stops, the lead duo were never more than half-a-second apart, with Paffett constantly looking to find a way past.

Ekstrom held on, however, to reverse the standings at the top of the title race and retake the series lead by one point. Behind Paffett, Audi's Tom Kristensen took the final place on the podium, ahead of Opel's Laurent Aiello, Reuter and Bruno Spengler (Mercedes).

Ex-F1 stars Frentzen and Jean Alesi (Mercedes) were seventh and eighth respectively, with their positions reversed late on after Alesi punted Frentzen into a spin, for which he received a drive-though penalty. Mika Hakkinen finished 12th in a badly damaged car after a hefty collision with Christian Abt's Audi.

CLASSIFIED:

Pos  Driver            Car                    Time
 1.  Mattias Ekstrom   Audi A4 DTM            1h 3:44.903
 2.  Gary Paffett      AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse  +     0.401
 3.  Tom Kristensen    Audi A4 DTM            +     3.062
 4.  Laurent Aiello    Opel Vectra GTS V8     +     4.756
 5.  Manuel Reuter     Opel Vectra GTS V8     +     6.082
 6.  Bruno Spengler    AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse  +    18.762
 7.  H.H. Frentzen     Opel Vectra GTS V8     +    21.368
 8.  Jean Alesi        AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse  +    23.299
 9.  Allan McNish      Audi A4 DTM            +    29.766
10.  Martin Tomczyk    Audi A4 DTM            +    30.198
11.  Rinaldo Capello   Audi A4 DTM            +    30.553
12.  Mika Hakkinen     AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse  +    34.762
13.  Frank Stippler    Audi A4 DTM            +    36.747
14.  A. Margaritis     AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse  +    39.608

NOT CLASSIFIED/RETIREMENTS:

     Driver            Car                     On Lap
     Jamie Green       AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse     29
     Bernd Schneider   AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse     19
     Stefan Mucke      AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse     15
     Christian Abt     Audi A4 DTM               14
     Pierre Kaffer     Audi A4 DTM               10
     Marcel Fassler    Opel Vectra GTS V8         0

Fastest lap: Gary Paffett, 1:17.938 on lap 9