Britain's Gary Paffett took the win at the Oschersleben today [Sunday], and by doing so closed to within one point of current championship leader, Mattias Ekstrom.
Paffett, who started from P3, eventually triumphed by 3.169 seconds, taking his second win of the year, after also coming out top at Lausitz in May. Paffett took second at the start after pole-sitter Tom Kristensen failed to get away. He then battled with fellow countryman, Jamie Green, before passing him in the pits.
"Following my failed start at Brno, I was rather careful during the start, but I succeeded in passing Kristensen right away," reflected Paffett.
"My team made a fantastic first pit stop. During the final 10 laps, Ekstrom was faster than me, but I didn't make a mistake and offered him no opportunity of passing me. It's great to be back on the highest step of the rostrum."
Ekstrom thus took second, and try as he did during the latter stages of the race he couldn't overhaul Paffett.
"My start wasn't too good as I lost some time because of Kristensen not getting away," he commented. "For many laps, I was involved in a fair and tough battle with Laurent Aiello, but then I could pass him. It was a similar situation with Jamie, but in this case, I could pass him only when he made a mistake.
"Afterwards, I pushed as hard as I could, but unfortunately this wasn't enough to steal Gary's win. Due to DTM's extreme competitiveness it's really difficult to win a race from fifth position on the grid."
Jamie Green completed the top three, to give Mercedes two spots on the podium, the Brit securing his maiden DTM podium in the process, although it could have been second not third but for a mistake in turn 4.
