However, it was the strategy of pitting later that was proving most beneficial on the day and when Paffett came back into the pit lane for his second stop on lap 29, he returned back ahead of Hakkinen, Rockenfeller, Scheider and Martin Tomczyk.
Not that it was Paffett who had resumed the lead, instead di Resta, Mathias Lauda, Frank Biela and Marco Werner remaining out on the circuit for some time before completing their second mandatory stop. Eventually, di Resta made his final stop, remarkably doing enough to get back out behind Paffett in second place.
With a clear track in front of him, Paffett wasted no time in establishing a gap between himself and di Resta, the Laureus C-Class crossing the line at the end of the 44 laps with a comfortably margin to evoke memories of his championship winning exploits in 2005 when he last stood on the DTM podium.
“Just great,” he said. “Today, I had an excellent start, a brilliant strategy, perfect pit stops and a clear run almost all the time I knew that we could win when we would have a perfect day and today it was.”
di Resta was a superb second place in his ageing C-Class, the reigning Formula 3 Euroseries Champion not only recording the best result for a two-year old car, but also moving into the joint lead of the championship.
“Being second in the second race is just incredible,” he beamed. “Already now, I have achieved more than I would even have dreamt of. In the first race, I could already have been on the podium, but back then, it didn't work out. Today, it did.”
Third place turned into a contentious affair when Rockenfeller made a determined effort to wrestle the final spot on the podium off Hakkinen, the German making contact with the Finn on the penultimate lap and sneaking through. For Hakkinen though, he suffered a puncture that forced him into the pit lane with only a lap left to run.
![Gary Paffett - Laureus AMG Mercedes [pic credit: DTM Media]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/318570.jpg)
