Gary Paffett – the highest-placed driver in a year-old car – and five-time DTM king Bernd Schneider completed the points-scorers, with qualifying star Oliver Jarvis, who made a bright start to run sixth early on, missing out by less than six seconds on his competitive tin-top debut.
There were poorer fortunes still for Paul di Resta, who encountered clutch woes during his second stop on lap 19 whilst lying third, and top Mercedes. The Scot fell back to 13th position in the final reckoning. Fastest lap of the race – a new lap record – was scant consolation.
Formula 1 refugee
Ralf Schumacher crossed the line 14th, with Susie Stoddart – who began from the pit-lane – 16th and Katherine Legge 18th on her maiden appearance in the leading pan-European touring car championship. Series returnee Christijan Albers was the race's only retirement, being forced to park his 2007-spec Futurecom-TME Audi A4 on lap two after a collision with Schumacher at the hairpin led to problems with his suspension.
“From Friday onwards, our car has been very good,” enthused race-winner Ekström afterwards, “and I was confident that I would be able to score a good result here. I had a very good start, my new A4 goes like a rocket and the pit-stops were excellent.
“During the race, I lost some time when I was stuck behind Bernd Schneider, and Timo put me under quite some pressure. Especially at the start of the season, everybody wants to get a good result, and so I am very happy with my ten points and the one-two-three for Audi. Such a start is beautiful.”
“It has been a remarkable weekend for us,” agreed runner-up Scheider, who secured his best result to-date at the beginning of his eighth year in the DTM, “especially as it was the first weekend of the season and we managed to come off with such a result.
![Audi stars [L-R] Tom Kristensen, winner Mattias Ekstrom and Timo Scheider celebrate the Ingolstadt manufacturer's impeccable one-two-three in the 2008 DTM season-opener at Hockenheim [pic credit: DTM Media]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/428434.jpg)
