Scheider takes first win of 2009

The German, who took his maiden victory at the same track last year, took the lead from pole-sitter Tom Kristensen at the start and dominated the race throughout.

Kristensen's time at the front was short-lived as he was given a drive-through penalty for not lining up in his grid slot correctly, but Audi still locked out the podium as Mattias Ekstrom and Martin Tomczyk were comfortably clear of the rest of the field.

Behind them, Paul di Resta came through from ninth on the grid to take fourth for Mercedes, just ahead of Gary Paffett, who had started 12th.

The 2005 champion had gained ground with a good start and passed Alexandre Premat on track for what was eighth place at the time. He then jumped Oliver Jarvis and Bruno Spengler in the pits and decided against challenging di Resta too much in the closing stages.

The two Brits were a long way clear of Spengler, who had a lonely run to sixth. Behind him, Maro Engel moved up to seventh with two laps to go when Jarvis spun out due to a puncture.

Jarvis had run fourth behind the Abt Audis in the early stages, but he lost out to the Mercedes drivers during the pitstops.

There was more bad news for Audi just a couple of corners later, when Mike Rockenfeller attacked Alexandre Premat for eighth and the pair tangled, handing the place to Jamie Green.

But the Norisring winner didn't hold onto the final point for long, as at the start of the final lap, the recovering Kristensen snatched the place at Turn 2.

Pos Driver                 Car              Time/Gap
 1. Timo Scheider          Audi         1h08m39.064s
 2. Mattias Ekstrom        Audi               +5.417
 3. Martin Tomczyk         Audi               +9.603
 4. Paul di Resta          Mercedes          +16.868
 5. Gary Paffett           Mercedes          +17.338
 6. Bruno Spengler         Mercedes          +35.843
 7. Maro Engel             Mercedes          +40.996
 8. Tom Kristensen         Audi              +44.015
 9. Jamie Green            Mercedes          +44.636
10. Susie Stoddart         Mercedes          +50.177
11. Ralf Schumacher        Mercedes          +57.906
12. Mathias Lauda          Mercedes          +59.523
13. Mike Rockenfeller      Audi            +1:18.100
14. Tomas Kostka           Audi              +2 laps
15. Oliver Jarvis          Audi              +3 laps
16. Alexandre Premat       Audi              +3 laps

Retirements

    Katherine Legge        Audi              36 laps
    Markus Winkelhock      Audi              23 laps
    Johannes Seidlitz      Audi               5 laps