Ekstrom wins chaotic wet Le Mans race

Mercedes seemed to have blown their chances of the crown from the start of the race, when di Resta and several of his teammates started on wet tyres. The Audis were on slicks, and the C-class drivers were forced to make their first stops before the pit window.

That left di Resta out of the hunt as championship leader Timo Scheider led with Ekstrom in tow. The Swede moved ahead during the pit stops, but Scheider was still set for the title with second.

But a rain shower towards the end of the pit window played into di Resta's hands. As the only driver still with a mandatory stop to make, he took wets, and shortly afterwards everyone else was in to make an extra stop.

Di Resta rejoined fourth - just ahead of Scheider - and then passed Gary Paffett, before taking second from home driver Alexandre Premat who stayed on slicks. He then settled into second, unable to make an impact on Ekstrom.

Premat briefly lost third to Paffett, but as conditions improved the Audi driver regained the advantage to take a popular podium finish after a battling performance.

Behind their scrap, Bernd Schneider did di Resta a favour by passing Scheider for fifth with two laps to go when the Audi driver ran wide at Turn 3 after a long fight.

Bruno Spengler didn't quite have enough time to do any more damage to Scheider's championship lead, so the German heads to Hockenheim with just a two-point lead over di Resta.

Pos  Driver               Car                  Time
 1.  Mattias Ekström      Audi      41         1:10:11.103
 2.  Paul Di Resta        Mercedes  41          +    4.250
 3.  Alexandre Prémat     Audi      41          +   10.946
 4.  Gary Paffett         Mercedes  41          +   11.393
 5.  Bernd Schneider      Mercedes  41          +   17.200
 6.  Timo Scheider        Audi      41          +   18.806
 7.  Bruno Spengler       Mercedes  41          +   19.318
 8.  Tom Kristensen       Audi      41          +   20.074
 9.  M.Rockenfeller       Audi      41          +   26.014
10.  Jamie Green          Mercedes  41          +   29.940
11.  Markus Winkelhock    Audi      41          +   31.645
12.  Susie Stoddart       Mercedes  41          + 1:28.642
13.  Christijan Albers    Audi      41          + 1:39.120
14.  Maro Engel           Mercedes  40          +    1 lap
15.  Mathias Lauda        Mercedes  40          +    1 lap
16.  Katherine Legge      Audi      39          +   2 laps

Retirements

     Oliver Jarvis        Audi                 26
     Martin Tomczyk       Audi                 1
     Ralf Schumacher      Mercedes             0

Fastest lap, di Resta 1:32.727 on lap 24