Race 1: Paffett's perfect start

He made a fantastic start from the outside of the front row in his Team Rosberg Dallara-Opel to overhaul pole sitter Charles Zwolsman (Team Kolles Dallara-Mugen) on the run to the first corner. He pulled out a huge gap as rain fell and his pursuers fell over themselves to catch up, but obstinate backmarkers negated his 4sec lead over Frank Diefenbacher (BSR Dallara-Opel) and they fought out a thrilling duel to the flag.

"It was an amazing start," said Paffett. "It must have looked like I jumped it, I was so far ahead by the first corner, but I didn't. When the rain fell it was amazing difficult to find where the grip was, and then the backmarkers weren't co-operating at all, not that there was many blue flags."

Zwolsman (Team Kolles Dallara-Mugen) recovered to finish third after going off the track in the rain and dropping to fifth. Another man to star was Markus Winkelhock, who gave the brand new Mercedes a fifth placed finish on its debut. He had run as high as third but, "Saw the leaders ahead and pushed a bit too hard to catch them."

After his brief off-track excursion, he battled past Bernhard Auinger (BSR Dallara-Opel) to finish fifth, just behind Norbert Siedler (Palfinger Dallara-Opel).

The second round starts at 11.45 local time tomorrow (10.45 BST).


Gary Paffett, Team Rosberg, Dallara-Opel, 29 laps
Frank Diefenbacher, Opel Team BSR, Dallara-Opel, +0.7s
Charles Zwolsman, Team Kolles, Dallara-Mugen, +14.6s
Norbert Siedler, Palfinger, Dallara-Opel, +20.8s
Markus Winkelhock, Mucke Motorsport, Dallara-Mercedes, +22.9s
Bernhard Auinger, Opel Team BSR, Dallara-Opel, +23.4s