Race: Ekstrom moves clear
Mattias Ekstrom looks good for the 2004 DTM title after winning a shortened sprint race at Zandvoort. The original race was stopped after Scotsman Peter Dumbreck had a massive accident in the last corner. The race was restarted over 10 laps with Ekstrom leading throughout
Dumbreck emerged unscathed, if a little shaken, from his wrecked Opel Vectra after hitting the wall and rolling three times. It may well go down as the biggest accident the series has seen in recent times.
Ekstrom's Abt-Audi team-mate Tomczyk finished second, holding off a determined challenge from top Mercedes man Christijan Albers who drove brilliantly to fight up from sixth on the grid. Gary Paffett who picked up a drive-through penalty in the original race, finished fourth, ahead of Mercedes stable-mate Bernd Schneider and Audi's Tom Kristensen, who had earlier clashed with Paffett.
Ekstrom now leads the championship by 13 points ahead of Albers, with Paffett close behind.
"This is a great day for me," said Ekstrom. "My car was just perfect, my first start brilliant and I absolutely controlled the race until it was stopped due to the accident. It was a bit harder after the new start. An advantage of 13 points may be a good cushion, but you can never feel too safe in the DTM."
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