Brit Gary Paffett has further extended his championship lead in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters by taking a commanding win around the Brands Hatch Indy circuit in the United Kingdom.
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A dominant performance from Paffett saw him win his home race for the first time in his nine year DTM career. Canadian Bruno Spengler took second, just over five second further back. The BMW driver had to withstand pressure from third-placed Mike Rockenfeller at the end of the race however. German Rockenfeller’s third means that the podium features cars from Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi for the first time in 2012.
Fourth went to reigning champion Martin Tomczyk. Mattias Ekström finished in fifth, but was unable to challenge the leading quartet and finished more than 22 seconds behind the winner.
Christian Vietoris finished in sixth, after an up and down race. The Young German had started on the front row in second but a poor start saw him drop down to ninth by the end of the opening lap. The Mercedes driver fought back however, making up positions during the pit-stop phase of the race.
Seventh went to Miguel Molina, who finished just ahead of Jamie Green, who drops from second to fourth in the drivers championship as a result of his eighth place finish.
Edoardo Mortara and Filipe Albuquerque once again completed the top ten in ninth and tenth respectively for Audi Sport Team Rosberg.
Ralf Schumacher’s difficult weekend continued. After qualifying down in 18th, he was given a drive-through penalty for speeding in the pitlane, and consequently could finish no higher than 19th.
Timo Scheider’s difficult start to the season continued as the German was forced to retire after 55 laps with an engine misfire. There were also troubles for Brit Andy Priaulx, who retired with a damaged front splitter after just 12 laps.