Green and Gary Paffett came home separated by less than a second in sixth and seventh spots respectively, the latter making up three places at the start with a lightning getaway from tenth on the grid. After the pair swapped positions following the opening round of pit visits, McLaren-Mercedes'
Formula 1 test driver Paffett would take the chequered flag as the best-placed driver behind the wheel of non 2008-spec machinery.
“A tough race,” Green summarised. “On the opening lap I had a coming-together with Martin Tomczyk and afterwards I struggled with the rear of my car, which was difficult to control. In these conditions sixth place was the best possible result.”
“I am quite happy,” countered former series champ Paffett, “because I was able to match the pace of the 2008 cars quite well. Seventh place and two points are a good start to the season.”
Ralf Schumacher survived a first lap contre-temps with Audi returnee Christijan Albers to finish 14th on his DTM debut, with the German
F1 refugee's fastest race lap a scant 77 thousandths of a second slower than the quickest time in last year's season-opener. Susie Stoddart was a further 14 seconds and two spots further back in 16th.
“My start could have been better,” Schumacher acknowledged, “but then I had a reasonable first DTM race. Our strategy was good and our team did a great job.
“I enjoyed my first DTM weekend a lot and I am quite happy with my première. Now we will see what will happen in Oschersleben next weekend. I look forward to it.”
“In the warm-up shortly before the race I struggled with the power steering,” explained a frustrated Stoddart. “Our team solved the problem, but they didn't finish the repairs in time so I had to start from the pit-lane. Sixteenth place is not what I had expected.”
![Mercedes ace Bruno Spengler in action in the 2008 DTM curtain-raiser at Hockenheim [pic credit: Mercedes-Benz Motorsport]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/429611.jpg)
