Race 1: Bjorn again!

Wirdheim, who lies 11th in the championship, was never challenged after opening up a 1.3sec lead on the opening lap. Despite 30-degree temperatures, the Prema PowerTeam driver extended that to almost 3secs by the time the chequered flag appeared 27 laps later.

Fellow front row starter Joao Paulo de Oliveira was an equally lonely second, well clear of third placed Markus Winkelhock. A stonking start from Kousuke Matsuura helped him rocket from eighth to fourth by the first corner, helped by poor starts from Stefan Mucke and Gary Paffett.

Paffett interjected some much needed excitement to a terribly dull race by battling against a car with massive oversteer, a fight he lost on a couple of occasions at Michelin Kurve. After losing two places off the startline, he allowed Toshihiro Kaneishi and Mucke past on lap five after his first grassy moment, and dropped out of the top 10 a couple of laps later in the same fashion.

Pierre Kaffer took fifth from Hannes Lachinger in the final stages to boost his title charge, while Kaneishi's seventh placed was enough to move him to within two points of series leader Frank Diefenbacher, who was punted into a spin on the opening lap and finished outside the top 10.

Race two takes place at 11.00 tomorrow local time (10.00BST) with Kaffer on pole and Wirdheim a lowly 24th.

Bjorn Wirdheim, Prema PowerTeam Dallara-Opel, 27 laps
Joao Paulo de Oliviera, Swiss Tony Racing Team Dallara-Opel, +2.9s
Markus Winkelhock, Mucke Motorsport Dallara-Opel, +4.7s
Kousuke Matsuura, Prema PowerTeam Dallara-Opel, +11.0s
Pierre Kaffer, Team Kolles Dallara-Mugen, +13.3s
Hannes Lachinger, GM Motorsport Dallara-Toyota, +14.1s