Race: Victory for Paffett

The front row of Jean Alesi and Paffett was eclipsed at the start by Albers, who made a lightning start from row two to lead into the first corner. Paffett held second, ahead of Alesi, Schneider, Tom Kristensen (Audi) and Timo Scheider (Opel).

Albers was suffering with a malfunctioning clutch, however, and lost the lead when he stalled his engine during his first pitstop. Paffett jumped ahead of him, despite smacking the Esses wall on lap five, while Alesi also got ahead of the delayed Dutchman.

Scheider delayed his first pitstop and led for nine laps, but the Opel bad luck jinx soon struck and he was forced out with a broken propshaft. Audi was also having a tough time, not helped when Christian Abt punted Kristensen into a spin, which left the Dane speechless afterwards. Series leader Mattias Ekstrom picked his way through to run fifth, despite stalling during his first stop.

Mercedes' perfect day was tarnished slightly when Alesi suffered fading brakes and visited a tyrewall. He extricated himself, but could only tour to the finish in 10th. Paffett had no such dramas, despite a heavy rain shower mid-way through the race.

"It was a great race for me," said Paffett. "This was the perfect response to what had happened at the Lausitzring [where he was excluded after taking victory] three weeks ago. The conditions were very tricky when it rained, but I made sure I didn't push the car too hard after that."

Paffett won by 1.9secs from Albers and Schneider, with Ekstrom inheriting fourth thanks to Alesi's problems. Martin Tomczyk was fifth for Audi, while the recovering Kristensen just overcame the top Opel of Peter Dumbreck, despite a stewards' inquiry into a possible yellow flag infringement.