Race 1: Winkelhock's last lap stunner

Following in the footsteps of his late father Manfred and uncle Joachim - both renowned for giving the crowd something to get excited about - Winkelhock left until the very last moment before he pulled the decisive passing maneouvre to deprive longtime leader Gary Paffett of the top spot with just four corners remaining of the last lap.

Paffett made a perfect start from pole in his Team Rosberg Dallara-Opel, leading Stefan Mucke (Mucke Motorsports) and Bjorn Wirdheim (Prema), the latter getting the better off Mucke's team mate Winkelhock.

Markus redressed the balance at the Ostkurve to pick up third, while Wirdheim's attempts to repass went all wrong at the Senna chicane, dropping him down the order.

The very moment that Greece stunned Old Trafford with the opening goal against England, Mucke did likewise to Paffett by relieving him of first place at the first chicane. Paffett then outbraked him at the Ostkurve, only for Mucke to power past once again on the exit.

Obviously struggling for straightline speed against his rivals, Paffett elected to sit in the draft of Mucke's car until lap three, when he sliced past him at the Senna chicane.

While this was going on, Winkelhock had closed the gap to the leaders but, in his attempts to pass Mucke, tripped over his team mate at the first chicane on lap seven, sparking an arm-waving session on the following straight.

Paffett managed to extend his lead to 2.1secs by lap seven, but Winkelhock got past Mucke on the following tour and began to carve into the Briton's lead. A glance at the speed traps showed Paffett was giving away almost 10kph, and he was powerless to stop Winkelhock from sweeping past on the exit of the Ostkurve on the final lap.

Although Paffett immediately dived back into the tow, Winkelhock's car seemed to defy physics and pulled away to record victory by 0.8secs.

In the championship fight Frank Diefenbacher, joint leader coming into the finale, was taken out by Kimmo Liimatainen at the Ostkurve on the opening lap. He was further delayed when Wirdheim spun in front of him on the next lap, and eventually retired with front wing damage.

Title rival Toshihiro Kaneishi drove a steady race, meanwhile, rising from his lowly grid position of 12th to score a highly respectable seventh placed finish. That gives him a four-point advantage going into tomorrow's final round

Markus Winkelhock, Mucke Motorsport Dallara F301-Opel, 12 laps
Gary Paffett, Team Rosberg Dallara F301-Opel, +0.8s
Stefan Mucke, Mucke Motorsport Dallara F301-Opel, +1.9s
Joao Paulo de Oliveira, Swiss Tony Racing Dallara F301-Opel, +6.6s
Jaroslav Kanis, KMS Dallara F301-Opel, +7.6s
Raffaele Giammaria, Cram Competition Dallara F300-Opel, +8.2s


Kaneishi, 176
Diefenbacher, 172
Mucke, 157
Kaffer, 156
Winkelhock, 141
De Oliveira, 108