Lausitz: Paffett loses win

Pole sitter Christijan Albers was outdragged at the start by Ekstrom, who just managed to squeeze into the lead at Turn 1. Behind them, Paffett's electric start from seventh meant he entered the first corner side-by-side with Mercedes team-mate Jean Alesi and Opel's Peter Dumbreck, and contact was made between the two Mercedes, which sent Dumbreck on to the grass and tumbling down the order. Adding to Opel's woe, Bernd Schneider and Timo Scheider also made contact, which caused Timo's Vectra to spin.

Already up to third, Paffett grabbed second when Albers suffered a brief off at Turn 2, the series leader recovering in third. Ekstrom had made a break by this stage, but Paffett was closing before the leaders made their first pit stops on lap six.

Ekstrom struggled with his tyres in the second stint, which allowed Paffett to close right up. The Abt Sportsline Audi team decided to bring the leader in for a surprisingly early second stop on lap 13, which meant he had 24 laps on his final set of tyres. Paffett responded by pitting on the next tour, but had dropped almost 2secs.

The Briton went on a charge, however, catching Ekstrom by lap 20 and launching an attack at the final corner on the following lap. After a brief tap sent the Audi sideways, Paffett was able to outdrag him to take the lead into Turn 1, and he subsequently pulled away at a great rate of knots.

Behind them, Albers had dropped behind Schneider after his first stop, but the reigning champion waved him past on lap 16 to allow him a clear run at the leaders. By the time Christijan pitted on lap 23, he rejoined 4.6secs behind Ekstrom but pushed hard to close the gap.

With his tyres wilting in the closing stages, Ekstrom dropped back into Albers' clutches and the duo fought out a spectacular duel. Despite swapping places and making contact, Ekstrom somehow managed to hold his title rival at bay to cling to second, and the intensity of their battle drew them close to Paffett, who backed off to save his tyres in the latter stages.

At the finish, Paffett won by just over a second from Ekstrom, Albers and Schneider, the top four covered only by 2.3secs. Laurent Aiello took a distant fifth after a slow second stop delayed Alesi, who finished sixth.

More drama was to come, however. Paffett's car ran out of fuel on the slowing down lap, and although the C-Class was not underweight, there was not enough fuel in the tank to take a sample for testing purposes. He was excluded, handing Ekstrom the victory, but Mercedes has appealed.

"Gary has won on the track and not by illegal advantages," said Mercedes motorsport chief Norbert Haug. "His team feels the disqualification to be too severe. Of course, Paffett as well as all other C-Class cars in the DTM used the standardised fuel for all DTM starters, which complies with the rules.

"Should the championship be decided by such a penalty, this would certainly not be in the spirit of the sport. During its DTM activities, AMG-Mercedes has never appealed against decisions of the race stewards, but this time, we do this and hope that this case will be judged in the sense of the sport."