Hakkinen takes fortunate win

The Finn took advantage of some good fortune with the safety car to take the lead, as he was the only driver to make his second pit stop before the safety car was deployed.

Hakkinen has had good results ruined by the safety car twice this year, but for once it worked in his favour.

The former Formula One world champion then had to withstand significant pressure from pole-sitter Mattias Ekstrom for the final 15 laps, as the Audi driver ran within half a second of the leader all the way to the flag.

Ekstrom had led the race early on, and were it not for Hakkinen's good fortune he would have taken a comfortable victory.

Paul di Resta had showed good pace in the early stages of the race to work his way up the order, and he even passed the 2007-specification Mercedes of reigning champion Bernd Schneider as he moved into the points.

The Persson Motorsport driver then took advantage of problems for several other frontrunners to emerge in third position after the second pit stop, but he was not quite able to keep up with the top two.

Di Resta was under no pressure from behind though, as Bruno Spengler held up a train of cars all the way to the finish.

Daniel la Rosa never mounted a serious challenge, while Mike Rockenfeller put a late move on Alexandre Premat to snatch sixth place at the end.

Tom Kristensen recovered from a disastrous pit stop to score the final point, although the Dane had run in third position in the early laps.

Of the other Audis that started at the front of the grid, Martin Tomczyk had a pit stop problem and then spun shortly after the restart, while Timo Scheider was punted off on the first lap after making a poor start.

The results move Ekstrom into a clear championship lead ahead of Bernd Schneider who failed to score, while Spengler and di Resta are now tied for third ahead of Hakkinen.

Classified:

Pos  Driver             Car              Time
 1.  Mika Hakkinen      Mercedes  1h03:10.117
 2.  Mattias Ekstrom    Audi         +  0.371
 3.  Paul Di Resta      Mercedes     +  3.198
 4.  Bruno Spengler     Mercedes     +  8.722
 5.  Daniel La Rosa     Mercedes     +  9.420
 6.  Mike Rockenfeller  Audi         + 10.073
 7.  Alexandre Premat   Audi         + 11.975
 8.  Tom Kristensen     Audi         + 12.251
 9.  Markus Winkelhock  Audi         + 16.558
10.  Susie Stoddart     Mercedes     + 22.144
11.  Bernd Schneider    Mercedes     + 26.877
12.  Mathias Lauda      Mercedes     + 7 laps

Not classified:

     Driver             Car        Laps
     Martin Tomczyk     Audi       16
     Gary Paffett       Mercedes   16
     Christian Abt      Audi       16
     Alex Margaritis    Mercedes   12
     Vanina Ickx        Audi       4
     Jamie Green        Mercedes   3
     Lucas Luhr         Audi       1
     Timo Scheider      Audi       0