Schneider takes another win

Schneider (Mercedes) hit the front after the second round of mandatory pitstops, inheriting the lead after longtime race leader Mika Hakkinen (Mercedes) suffered a slow stop due to a sticking left-rear wheelnut.

Hakkinen took the lead at the start after a bold move to pass pole-sitter Jamie Green (Mercedes) into Turn 1. Green locked up and slid wide, dropping to fourth behind the leading Audi of Mattias Ekstrom and Schneider.

Hakkinen opted for a long first stint before his first pitstop, coming in on lap 12, but Ekstrom stayed out even longer, not pitting from the lead until lap 18.

Ekstrom rejoined right behind Hakkinen, who had been held up by the year-old Audi of Frank Stippler after his first stop, and the Swede attacked him on his fresher tyres but was unable to find a way past.

Hakkinen then pulled away once more in the second stint, so Ekstrom elected to stop first this time in an effort to jump ahead.

However, Schneider had pitted three laps earlier and used his fresh tyres to catapult himself ahead of Ekstrom.

What should have been second then became the lead for Schneider, as Hakkinen's slow left-rear wheel change cost him vital seconds, dropping him to fourth.

While Schneider coasted to victory, Ekstrom lost a near-certain second when his car suddenly lost speed with two laps to go, forcing him to eventually pull off and post his second DNF in two races.

Ekstrom, it has emerged, ran out of fuel, after a mistake by the team on his second stop meant he was not properly fuelled up.

Tom Kristensen (Audi) battled hard all day and was rewarded with second, while Hakkinen took third due to some team orders at the final corner that reversed Green's aggressive pass on him six laps from the flag.

Behind fourth-placed Green, Bruno Spengler, Alexandros Margaritis and Jean Alesi made it six Mercedes cars in the top seven, with Audi's Martin Tomczyk rounding out the point scorers.

CLASSIFIED:

Pos  Driver             Make                   Time
 1.  Bernd Schneider    AMG Mercedes C-Klasse  1h03:35.042
 2.  Tom Kristensen     Audi A4                +     1.428
 3.  Mika Hakkinen      AMG Mercedes C-Klasse  +     3.749
 4.  Jamie Green        AMG Mercedes C-Klasse  +     3.889
 5.  Bruno Spengler     AMG Mercedes C-Klasse  +     4.410
 6.  A. Margaritis      AMG Mercedes C-Klasse  +     8.924
 7.  Jean Alesi         AMG Mercedes C-Klasse  +    23.549
 8.  Martin Tomczyk     Audi A4                +    26.468
 9.  Timo Scheider      Audi A4                +    27.601
10.  Pierre Kaffer      Audi A4                +    30.003
11.  Frank Stippler     Audi A4                +    32.903
12.  Stefan Mucke       AMG Mercedes C-Klasse  +    43.864
13.  H.H. Frentzen      Audi A4                +    47.436
14.  Mathias Lauda      AMG Mercedes C-Klasse  +  1:05.150
15.  Susie Stoddart     AMG Mercedes C-Klasse  +  1:17.449
16.  Vanina Ickx        Audi A4                +    1 lap
17.  Olivier Tielemans  Audi A4                +    1 lap
18.  Mattias Ekstrom    Audi A4                +    2 laps

NOT CLASSIFIED:

     Driver             Make                   Laps
     Daniel La Rosa     AMG Mercedes C-Klasse  32
     Christian Abt      Audi A4                28