Just two laps later Ekstrom would come together with Frank Stippler, the latter being forced off the track and with its diffuser missing and although the reigning champion would escape a penalty this time around, he did receive a warning.
With the first round of pit stops over and half of the race completed, the front of the field remained unchanged, with Kristensen holding a slender lead over Tomczyk, the German nonetheless unlikely to challenge for victory against his title contending team-mate.
Nonetheless, his role holding station behind Kristensen would now have more prominence after Schneider moved his way into third place from seventh on the grid, ahead of Alex Margaritis, battling up from having to start at the back of the grid following a penalty in qualifying when he collided with another driver, Stefan Mucke, Ekstrom and Green, the latter having slipped back further following his pit stop.
Margaritis, who at this point had been battling with the very person he had collided with in qualifying, Mucke, was almost losing control of his Mercedes coming out of the Arie Luyendijk corner, a moment traced to a problem with the left rear-wheel and the Greek driver being forced into retirement.
Promoting Ekstrom and Green into fifth and sixth, the recovering Brit was continuing to put pressure on the Swede for a spot in the top five, only to go up the inside at Tarzan and collide with his rival and send him bouncing across the gravel trap and well out of the points at the chequered flag.
Once again, the stewards took a dim view of his actions and gave him, like team-mate Hakkinen, a drive-through penalty, dropping him back to a rather unsatisfying eighth place at the finish.
Up at the front though, Kristensen was heading for a crucial victory, although he will have been dismayed to see it was Schneider tailing him across the finish line, the German finding his way past Tomczyk, who in turn recorded his second straight podium finish of the year.
