Reuter fears Mercedes backlash

The Opel driver, who dominated both heats from pole position, believes that his Stuttgart-based rivals will not take defeat lightly and are likely to pull out all the stops to make sure they are more on the pace at a track which traditionally favours the Opels.

"For sure they will give everything and they will fight back," said Reuter, who it tied at the top of the points table with Mercedes' Bernd Schneider. "They will be pushed so hard to make sure that they get back on top. Nobody expected this kind of result, but we have worked so hard since Hockenheim and today it really paid off. Hopefully we can fight all the way for the championship, because battling with Mercedes is what every manufacturer wants."

Reuter believes that the Opel and Mercedes cars are suited to different types of circuits - with the Opel better on tracks which require less downforce.

"Mercedes are good on tracks with a low grip level, or where you need high downforce, and Opel are better on low downforce circuits," he added. "There are five quick tracks this year and four slow ones, so maybe our philosophy will work. We will only find out who was right at the end of the year."

Opel motorsport boss Volker Strycek backed up his driver by claiming that one of the manufacturers will enjoy a crucial advantage at every circuit they visit.

"I am absolutely sure that it will change from race track to race track," he said. "Mercedes hopefully is not so strong at the Norisring as they were at Hockenheim - although everybody knows they were very, very fast there because it is almost their home track. We are confident that the Norisring will be an Opel circuit."