Paffett wins at Hockenheim

Alesi made a brilliant start from pole position to lead from Martin Tomczyk (Audi), Tom Kristensen (Audi) and Paffett. The latter got ahead of Kristensen on the opening lap, and grabbed second from Tomczyk by the start of lap two. Further back, Bernd Schneider (Mercedes) had got embroiled in some early contact which had delayed him, but he moved past Kristensen on lap six.

Alesi pitted at the first opportunity at the end of lap 6, promoting Paffett to the lead. Schneider grabbed third from Tomczyk immediately after his pitstop with a forceful move at Turn 2 to make it a Merc 1-2-3.

Alesi had Paffett and Schneider in tow when he made his second stop on lap 16, and picked up the lead once more when Paffett pitted four laps later - but it was close. Paffett slipped past Alesi when the Frenchman's splitter became detached, which would cause his retirement a few laps later.

With Alesi out, Schneider homed in on Paffett and turned the screw. Gary wilted at Turn 2 on lap 22, allowing Bernd a run into the hairpin. They exited the corner side-by-side, but Schneider had more more favourable line and claimed the lead.

Paffett kept him honest, however, and was right behind when Schneider suffered a front-right suspension failure just four laps from the finish. That handed Gary his first DTM victory on his first outing in a car with race-winning potential.

"It's an amazing result," he said. "Although both Jean and Bernd hit trouble I felt comfortable running at their pace, and I was always in contention for the win. It's a great result for me."

Merc's Christijan Albers bounced back from his qualifying woes of Saturday to inherit second, the Dutchman well clear of the Audi challenge led by Mattias Ekstrom. He led home Audi colleagues Kristensen and Tomczyk.

Opel's Peter Dumbreck was one of the stars of the race, though. From 19th on the grid after his qualifying crash (compounded when his bonnet flew off on the second lap of the warm-up) he charged through the pack to finish an incredible sixth. Emanuele Pirro (Audi) and Timo Scheider, whose Opel was pushed into a spin on the opening lap, rounded out the points.