Spengler Wins Shortened Race At A Wet Norisring

Bruno Spengler won a DTM race that was ended early due to heavy rain at the Norisring.

The race started with five laps behind the safety car due to the rain, and after the field was released Spengler retained his lead over Mercedes teammates Gary Paffett and Jamie Green.

Paffett crashed out of second place on lap 16, allowing Green to chase down Spengler. He had Mattias Ekstrom's Audi for company though, and the pair fought over the lead when Spengler made his first stop on lap 45. Ekstrom got ahead, only for Green to take the place back on the following lap.

Spengler resumed the lead when Green and Ekstrom both made their first stops. Ekstrom chose to make his second stop only a couple of laps later, but a lack of pace afterwards meant he would drop down the order. Spengler and Green made their second stops, with Spengler still in the lead.

With the rain getting heavier the safety car came out on lap 58, and with no sign of the conditions improving the race was red-flagged on lap 65 of 84.

This gave Spengler the win ahead of Green, who could not score his fourth straight Norisring victory. Martin Tomczyk recovered from tenth on the grid to finish third and complete the podium. The older-spec Audi driver worked his way up to sixth early on, and then made two pitstops in three laps to jump Ekstrom, Ralf Schumacher and Timo Scheider.

Scheider finished fourth, ahead of rookie Edoardo Mortara and Schumacher. Ekstrom slipped to seventh, ahead of Mucke Mercedes teammates David Coulthard and Maro Engel. Renger van der Zande completed the top ten.

Spengler's victory returned him to the top of the standings, three points clear of Tomczyk, whose recovery drive to third was not enough to keep hold of the championship lead. The DTM will be in action again in two weeks' time with a non-championship stadium event at Munich's Olympic Stadium.