Main race: Schneider, who else?

Having rocketed from 20th to fourth in the qualifying race, Schneider made the perfect call to pit early when the Safety Car appeared at the end of lap one of the main race after a multiple pile-up halfway round the opening lap.

After Hubert Haupt, Darren Turner and Uwe Alzen all went off ahead of him, evasive action by Kris Nissen sent him into a high-speed tankslapper which fired his Audi into the tyrewall at the fastest part of the track: the 160mph, 12 per cent gradient downhill "ski slope" section. After a massive impact, which hurled the car violently across the circuit, Laurent Aiello's stand-in coolly unhooked himself from the debris and walked away from his (well, Aiello's) wrecked machine.

Schneider, third at the time after Mattias Ekstrom's Audi had biffed his way past poleman Peter Dumbreck (AMG Merc) for the lead at the third corner, dived into the pits at the end of lap two along with Marcel Fassler, Marcel Tiemann, Christijan Albers (all Mercs) and Opel's Manuel Reuter.

Schneider's stop meant Dumbreck was forced to stay out, which ruined any hopes he had of scoring his second win of the day.

With his time spent in the pits negated by the long Safety Car period (it took five laps to clear away Nissen's wreckage) and the fact many others pitted a lap later, Schneider was already in seventh when the race restarted. He then picked off Alain Menu (Opel), Thomas Jager (Mercedes) and Timo Scheider (Opel) on the next lap, then passed Christian Abt's Audi for third a tour later. Only Ekstrom and Dumbreck lay ahead, and they both had to pit.

When they did, Schneider was handed a massive lead. Helped by a spin from second placed Tiemann, which gave the place to Albers, the reigning champ won by a massive 27.9secs. Patrick Huisman finished third, despite being thrown out for making his pit stop too late until the officials were reminded he pitted under the Safety Car for repairs.

He was reinstated ahead of team mate Tiemann and the charging duo of Ekstrom and Dumbreck, who were both victims of not pitting at the right time and had dropped to 13th and 14th after their stops under green.

Top Opel was Michael Bartels in tenth, but only after Manuel Reuter retired from fifth place with a punctured right-front tyre.


Bernd Schneider, 2001 D2 Mercedes CLK, 28 laps
Christijan Albers, 2000 Persson Mercedes CLK, +27.920s
Patrick Huisman, 2001 Eschmann-Manthey Mercedes CLK, +33.827s
Marcel Tiemann, 2001 Eschmann-Manthey Mercedes CLK, +34.489s
Mattias Ekstrom, 2001 Abt Sportsline Audi TT-R, +35.774s
Peter Dumbreck, 2001 D2 Mercedes CLK, +36.166s
Martin Tomczyk, 2001 Abt Sportsline Audi TT-R, +37.951s
Marcel Fassler, 2001 Warsteiner Mercedes CLK, +38.331s
Christian Abt, 2001 Abt Sportsline Audi TT-R, +46.022s
Michael Bartels, 2001 Holzer Opel Astra Coupe, +48.463s