It was a hot affair for Bernd Schneider: in outside temperatures ranging as high as 34 degrees, the Mercedes-driver kept his mind clear at the EuroSpeedway Lausitz and won the fourth round of the DTM in a dominant way.
At the finish after 35 race laps, Schneider had a margin of 6.813 seconds over Opel-driver Peter Dumbreck.
The two leading drivers had an advantage of more than 20 seconds over Mattias Ekström [Abt-Audi TT-R] and Timo Scheider [Opel Astra V8 Coupé].
For the first time this season, one driver of each of the three makes involved in the DTM made it onto the podium. With his second season victory, Schneider also claimed back the points lead from his team-mate Christijan Albers, who only finished seventh.
For Schneider, there was another reason to celebrate: the driver, born in the Saarland region, established a new record number of wins after his 37th victory in the DTM and ITC. A total of 62,000 spectators came to watch the DTM at the EuroSpeedway Lausitz.
A record victory and the championship lead: Schneider was well rewarded for the hot battle in the cockpit of his AMG-Mercedes CLK. Three times' DTM champion Schneider revealed the real reason for his dominant performance after getting out of his burning hot car: ''I had a blister on my foot, so I had to drive really fast to get to the doctor!'', he joked. ''My car was perfect, thanks to the team. Winning makes one feel really good. It is great for the DTM that we see new names like my team-mate Christijan Albers winning races as well, but they don't have to become champion right away.''
Former
F1 driver Jean Alesi was second-best Mercedes-driver in fifth place.
Motorsport director Norbert Haug was happy with the strong performance of his drivers: ''At the DTM, we always have a great crowd, but here at the Lausitzring, it was very special. The atmosphere at the grand stands was great, in spite of the heat, and the crowd cheered for all the three drivers alike during the prize-giving ceremony.''
