Paffett Retakes Lead with Win
Mercedes driver Gary Paffett retook the lead of the DTM points standing with his fourth win of the year in the German-based touring car series at Zandvoort in the Netherlands, beating title rival Mattias Ekstrom of Audi after a tense early battle
Paffett's hopes of victory started badly, however, as he dropped a place from fourth on the grid while Ekstrom rocketed up to third from fifth.
Pole man Bernd Schneider pulled into an immediate early lead over Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Ekstrom, Marcel Fassler (Opel) and Paffett. The latter got past Fassler on lap two and closed up on Ekstrom, but this was a race that would be decided by strategy.
Schneider and Paffett opted for an early stop, while Frentzen and Ekstrom stayed out for a long first stint. Having rejoined in the pack both Schneider and Paffett got stuck behind the year-old Audi of Rinaldo Capello, who refused to move aside.
Matters came to a head when Schneider appeared to punt Capello off at Tarzan bend, although the German claimed Capello had braked "50 meters too early." Schneider would get a drive-though penalty, while Paffett was able to set about turning over the deficit to Ekstrom.
When Ekstrom finally pitted he rejoined 2.2secs behind Paffett, who took the lead of the race when Frentzen pitted for the first time. Although Ekstrom was close to Paffett, he elected to pit to try and regain track position over him, but he tripped over the year-old Audi of Christian Abt, who failed to let him through at the chicane.
That delay, and the loss of a front flick-up, was enough to consign him to second place, as Paffett romped home by over 12secs. Paffett now reverses the one-point deficit pre-Zandvoort to a one-point lead.
Frentzen finished third, but Opel's day was soured slightly when Tom Kristensen (Audi) pulled a great move on Fassler to grab fourth at the penultimate corner.
CLASSIFIED: Pos Driver Car Time 1. Gary Paffett AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse 1h 1:59.421 2. Mattias Ekstrom Audi A4 DTM + 12.015 3. H.H. Frentzen Opel Vectra GTS V8 + 16.732 4. Tom Kristensen Audi A4 DTM + 20.042 5. Marcel Fassler Opel Vectra GTS V8 + 20.873 6. Martin Tomczyk Audi A4 DTM + 21.120 7. Jamie Green AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse + 23.436 8. Bernd Schneider AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse + 30.921 9. Bruno Spengler AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse + 36.488 10. Christian Abt Audi A4 DTM + 37.719 11. Pierre Kaffer Audi A4 DTM + 39.113 12. Mika Hakkinen AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse + 40.123 13. A. Margaritis AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse + 48.372 14. Laurent Aiello Opel Vectra GTS V8 + 51.535 15. Allan McNish Audi A4 DTM + 6 laps NOT CLASSIFIED/RETIREMENTS: Driver Car On Lap Manuel Reuter Opel Vectra GTS V8 27 Stefan Mucke AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse 18 Rinaldo Capello Audi A4 DTM 18 Frank Stippler Audi A4 DTM 13 Jean Alesi AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse 2 Fastest lap: Garry Paffett, 1:34.785 on lap 9
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