Second season victory for Schneider

At the EuroSpeedway Lausitz, Bernd Schneider scored his second consecutive victory in the current DTM-season. After 48 laps, the driver with the Vodafone AMG Mercedes C-Class crossed the line ahead of Audi-driver Tom Kristensen and Mika Häkkinen, who overtook his fellow Mercedes-driver Jamie Green on the final metres of the race. Audi’s Mattias Ekström looked on course towards a podium finish, but with two laps to go, his car slowed down while running in second place and he didn’t make it to the finish.
Behind fifth-placed Bruno Spengler, Greek Alexandros Margaritis was the best driver with year-old machinery in sixth position, while Jean Alesi and Martin Tomczyk claimed the final points-scoring places in seventh and eighth respectively. Susie Stoddart won the battle of the female drivers from Vanina Ickx.

The race at a glance
Air temperature: 14.3 °C
Track temperature: 22.3 °C
Spectators on race weekend: 76.000

Start Häkkinen takes the lead from Ekström and Schneider, Green drops back to fourth
Lap 1 Häkkinen is leading from Ekström, Schneider, Green, Spengler, Kristensen, Alesi, Margaritis, Scheider and Tomczyk
Lap 4 Häkkinen is 1.3 seconds clear of Ekström
Lap 6 Frentzen, Abt into the pits. Abt comes out ahead of Frentzen
Lap 7 Green, Spengler into the pits
Lap 8 Alesi, Kaffer into the pits
Lap 9 Häkkinen's margin has increased to 2.1 seconds. Schneider within striking distance to Ekström
Lap 10 Scheider, Lauda, Stoddart into the pits
Lap 11 Mücke into the pits. Schneider right on the tail of Ekström's car, the two battling for a long time, 0.6 seconds apart
Lap 12 Vanina Ickx spins after a collision with Olivier Tielemans. Häkkinen, Ickx into the pits
Lap 13 Schneider, La Rosa into the pits
Lap 14 Kristensen into the pits. Schneider attacks Green in the battle for seventh place
Lap 15 Ekström is leading from Margaritis, Tomczyk, Stippler, Häkkinen, Green, Schneider, Spengler, Kristensen and Alesi
Lap 16 Tomczyk into the pits. Kristensen attacks Spengler and gets past
Lap 17 Schneider past Green. Margaritis, Stippler into the pits
Lap 18 Ekström into the pits, re-joins behind Häkkinen and ahead of Schneider. Tielemans also into the pits
Lap 19 Order after the firsr range of pit stops: Häkkinen is leading from Ekström, Schneider, Green, Kristensen, Spengler, Margaritis, Alesi, Scheider and Kaffer
Lap 20 Ekström is putting Häkkinen under massive pressure. Green locks up under braking, Kristensen gets past and is now fourth
Lap 21 Frentzen into the pits, problems with the left front wheel
Lap 22 Tielemans into the pits
Lap 25 Kristensen, Green, Spengler into the pits
Lap 26 Schneider, Alesi, Scheider, Kaffer into the pits
Lap 27 Schneider and Kristensen past Tomczyk
Lap 28 Tomczyk, Abt into the pits. Abt loses the right front wheel in the pit lane, retires
Lap 29 Ekström, Stippler, Lauda into the pits. Spengler and Green collide, continue
Lap 30 Häkkinen into the pits, problems with the left rear wheel, loses two seconds. Schneider, Ekström and Kristensen have gone past
Lap 32 La Rosa into the pits, retires
Lap 33 Margaritis, Stoddart into the pits
Lap 34 Schneider is leading from Ekström, Kristensen, Häkkinen, Green, Spengler, Margaritis, Alesi, Tomczyk and Scheider. Ickx into the pits
Lap 39 Schneider is 1.7 seconds ahead of Ekström
Lap 42 Green attacks Häkkinen for fourth and gets past
Lap 47 Kristensen goes past Ekström and is now second, Ekström is slowing down. New race order: Schneider is leading from Kristensen, Green, Häkkinen, Spengler
Lap 48 Final lap. Finish order: Schneider wins, 1.4 seconds ahead of Kristensen, Häkkinen, Green, Spengler, Margaritis, Alesi, Tomczyk, Scheider and Kaffer. Häkkinen has overtaken Green on the final metres.