Next it was Spengler's turn but any hopes the Canadian would retain the lead were ruined when he stalled briefly when coming off the jacks. Crucially delayed, Spengler was behind Ekstrom too when he returned to the circuit, leaving Hakkinen and Schneider revolving in tandem out front.
Somewhat unnoticed though, the leader was now Tomczyk, the German still with a stop to make but gradually eking out a useful gap over Hakkinen, the Finn now paying for his early second stop with waning tyres by dropping an increasing amount of time to the Audi.
Spotting this, Mercedes pulled a team move to get a slightly fresher Schneider ahead and stem Tomczyk's flow, as he began playing himself into the race.
Tomczyk finally pitted on lap 62, but despite a superb pit-stop by his Abt Sportsline team he emerged just behind Schneider and right in front of team-mate Ekstrom, the former champion having muscled his way past a faltering Hakkinen at Clearways a few laps earlier.
On fresher tyres, Tomczyk immediately latched onto the back of Schneider in an attempt to pressure his counterpart into a mistake around a circuit that was offering precious few overtaking opportunities. Nonetheless, ‘Mr DTM' did not betray his immense experience, holding Tomczyk at bay to secure a first win of the season.
Tomczyk was an excellent second having started eighth on the grid, his strategy of pitting later paying off, but not quite enough for him to record a second-ever DTM victory. Nonetheless, despite having not tasted the winners champagne so far this year, Tomczyk goes to the fifth round at Norisring with the lead of the championship.
He in turn is two points up on Ekstrom, who joined Tomczyk on the podium in third, while a rather disappointed Hakkinen and Spengler had to be content with fourth and fifth. Green finished a lonely sixth, the Brit complaining of a wayward Mercedes after being involved in the first lap collision.
![Bernd Schneider holds Martin Tomczyk at bay for his first win of the season [pic credit: DTM Media]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/335667.jpg)
