Schneider wins wet Nurburgring race

The Mercedes driver took the lead from Paul di Resta when the Scot was delayed at a pit stop, and then held on as the rain fell and di Resta came back in for wet tyres with just six laps to go.

Di Resta would have only needed one more lap to take the lead, as he was more than five seconds a lap faster than his teammate who chose to stay out on slicks despite the heavy rain in the final laps.

The weather played a part in the race from the start, as Audi's lead drivers gambled on wet tyres on the grid when rain started to fall just before the warm-up lap.

But Mattias Ekstrom and Timo Scheider came in for slicks at the end of the warm-up lap, while front-row starters Tom Kristensen and Mike Rockenfeller did the same in the early part of the race.

Gary Paffett led the early stages in his slick-shod 2007 Mercedes, although he gave way to di Resta and Schneider after around 10 laps.

The rain started to fall heavily with around 10 laps to go, and di Resta was one of the few frontrunners to come in as he tried to recover from his delayed pit stop earlier in the race.

Timo Scheider was another to come in, and the German passed his teammate and championship rival Mattias Ekstrom on the last lap for fifth place.

Ekstrom was only in range because he spent the closing laps banging doors with his old sparring partner Paffett, who held on for fourth after a fighting performance.

Jamie Green had a lonely run to third, and he only lost second to di Resta with two laps to go as the Scot charged back to second on his wet tyres.

Behind Paffett, Ekstrom, and Scheider, Bruno Spengler took seventh, while the final point went to Ralf Schumacher.

The ex-Formula One driver had run in the points throughout the race, pitting from eighth to take wets, and snatched the place back from Mathias Lauda in the closing stages.

Pos Driver                 Car                  Gap
 1. Bernd Schneider        Mercedes     1:04:33.024
 2. Paul di Resta          Mercedes          +5.764
 3. Jamie Green            Mercedes         +13.069
 4. Gary Paffett           Mercedes         +19.416
 5. Timo Scheider          Audi             +19.582
 6. Mattias Ekstrom        Audi             +21.074
 7. Bruno Spengler         Mercedes         +37.484
 8. Ralf Schumacher        Mercedes         +45.630
 9. Markus Winkelhock      Audi             +59.601
10. Mathias Lauda          Mercedes       +1:00.671
11. Christijan Albers      Audi           +1:06.751
12. Susie Stoddart         Mercedes       +1:07.939
13. Oliver Jarvis          Audi           +1:11.250
14. Alexandre Premat       Audi              +1 lap
15. Mike Rockenfeller      Audi              +1 lap

Retirements

    Martin Tomczyk         Audi             29 laps
    Tom Kristensen         Audi             27 laps
    Katherine Legge        Audi             25 laps
    Maro Engel             Mercedes         25 laps


Fastest lap, Tomcyzk 1:24.484 on lap 25