Sachs'ring race 2 Glock triumphs

Glock beat pole sitter Kousuke Matsuura away at the start and although he was able to establish a small lead, he was never able to pull away from the chasing pack, headed by Joao Paulo de Oliveira. For a dozen laps the front four circulated in close formation, but there were no serious attempts at a change of position.

Perhaps the drivers were waiting for the later stages to make their moves, but unfortunately they were denied the opportunity after a four-car pile up on lap 13. Sakon Yamamoto lost control of his Dallara on the entry to the quick downhill left-hander and as he battled to regain control of the car he spun backwards onto the circuit.

Most of the following pack picked their way around the Japanese driver, but Marc Benz was less lucky and hit the stationary car at speed, though fortunately he had forced the car into a half spin so the collision was side on. Clemens Stadler spun in avoidance of the wrecked cars and looked to have got away with, but he was hit by Mirko Venturi, although the impact was not too severe.

The Safety Car was instantly deployed, and it soon picked up the leader Glock. However, the marshals were having difficulty extracting Yamamoto from his car, and the medical team were called in to assist. For the next four laps the cars toured around at vastly reduced speed, until on lap 17 - the 75 percent mark - the red flag was shown bringing the race to an end.

Third place went to Bernhard Auinger, Matsuura took fourth and Robert Doornbos was fifth. Frank Diefenbacher was a disappointing sixth, which means Gary Paffett retains his championship lead despite not taking part in the race.

It was a terrible race for Mercedes, with all three cars out by lap two. For the second race in a row Marcel Lasee failed to make it off the grid, while Markus Winkelhock and Sven Heidfeld retired on successive laps.


Timo Glock, KMS Dallara-Opel, 17 laps
Joao Paulo de Oliveira, Team Kolles Dallara-Opel
Berhard Auinger, BSR, Dallara-Opel
Kousuke Matsuura, Prema Powerteam Dallara-Opel
Robert Doornbos, Team Ghinzani Dallara-Mugen
Frank Diefenbacher BSR Dallara-Opel