H'heim race: Schneider holds off fortunate Fassler

It looked like business as usual at the start. Schneider held off the challenge of AMG Mercedes team mate Peter Dumbreck to lead, while Uwe Alzen leapfrogged ahead of Tomas Jager and Pedro Lamy at the first corner. The usual jostling in the pack accounted for Opel runners Michael Bartels and Alain Menu, who collided on the exit of the first corner and were out almost immediately.

In typical Schneider style, the German strode away from Dumbreck, Alzen, Jager, Lamy and Darren Turner. The first non-Merc was Laurent Aiello's seventh placed Audi TT-R, but you needed binoculars to spot the first Opel, that of Timo Scheider in 12th position.

The man on the move was Fassler, who sliced past Aiello on the opening lap and moved ahead of Turner a lap later for sixth. Five laps later, he nipped past Turner's team mate Lamy to take fifth.

The first pit visitor was Aiello, who had some bodywork damage repaired during the stop and dropped down the order. The first frontrunner to pit was Jager, who was turned around in 11.5secs by his Persson team, followed by Alzen, who was also stationary for 11.5secs.

Dumbreck pitted from second on lap 20, and was on his way in just 10.1secs, while Schneider took 11.4secs for his stop on lap 22. That left Fassler in the lead, but only by dint of him not having stopped.

The moment that changed the race, and almost the identity of the victor, was a Safety Car period to recover Martin Tomczyk's crashed Audi. Fassler took his chance to pit when it came out and was helped by the fact the Safety Car picked up Dumbreck instead of Schneider.

Realising the error, the Safety Car passenger waved Dumbreck past, but the damage was done, as the Scot had slowed down just enough for Fassler to get ahead of him when he rejoined from the pits.

On fresher tyres, Fassler pushed hard at the restart and, after Schneider had opened a 2.3sec gap over the next two laps, Fassler reeled him in. The Swiss got to within 0.4secs of the reigning champ at the start of the last lap, but never got close enough to challenge.

"They told me over the radio about the Safety Car and to come in," said Fassler. "I wasn't sure how much I'd benefit, but it was quite a lot. Not enough for victory, though."

Schneider said: "I had a lot of understeer and knew he was on fresher tyres and was quicker. But I also knew if I didn't make a mistake, then I'd stay ahead."

Dumbreck finished third, ahead of Alzen and Jager. Lamy and Turner swapped paint in their dispute over sixth, but the Portuguese just held sway. Turner also had his work cut out fending off a resurgent Aiello, and wasn't helped when his boot flew off, a legacy of some taps on the rear from Laurent.

"It was a good fight," said the Frenchman. "Darren was fair, but a few bits did fall off!"

The top Opel was 11th placed Scheider, who had to settle for the honour of fastest pit stop: "These last few days haven't been easy for us," he admitted. "It was better in the race than qualifying, though."

Click here for the race results.