By Glenn Freeman Sunday, August 31st 2008, 13:21 GMT
Timo ScheiderTimo Scheider sustained race-long pressure from Paul di Resta to take his second DTM win of the season at Brands Hatch this afternoon.
The championship leader never had a lead of more than two seconds over the Scot, and he was given a few scares late in the race as the pair lapped backmarkers.
Reigning champion Mattias Ekstrom took advantage of a different strategy to leap up to third from seventh on the grid. The Swede was much faster than the leaders in the closing stages after making his pit stops late, but he ran out of laps to mount any sort of challenge.
Jamie Green had to settle for a quiet run to fourth, although he did have a scare during the middle of the race when an off at the first corner allowed Martin Tomczyk through briefly.
Tomczyk eventually fell back behind Green and completed the top five for Audi, after passing Bruno Spengler around the outside at Paddock Hill Bend.
Spengler brought his ill-sounding Mercedes home in sixth after running further up early on, while Tom Kristensen chased the Canadian home to take seventh after starting down in 12th.
Gary Paffett took the final point in his one-year-old Mercedes after a hard fight with Bernd Schneider, which was briefly interrupted when the leaders caught the scrapping Mercedes drivers.
Pos Driver Team Time
1. Timo Scheider Audi 1:00:25.549
2. Paul di Resta Mercedes +0.793
3. Mattias Ekstrom Audi +4.077
4. Jamie Green Mercedes +13.879
5. Martin Tomczyk Audi +25.617
6. Bruno Spengler Mercedes +37.762
7. Tom Kristensen Audi +37.901
8. Gary Paffett Mercedes +1 lap
9. Bernd Schneider Mercedes +1 lap
10. Alexandre Premat Audi +1 lap
11. Markus Winkelhock Audi +1 lap
12. Oliver Jarvis Audi +1 lap
13. Mike Rockenfeller Audi +1 lap
14. Christijan Albers Audi +1 lap
15. Ralf Schumacher Mercedes +1 lap
16. Mathias Lauda Mercedes +1 lap
17. Maro Engel Mercedes +1 lap
18. Susie Stoddart Mercedes +2 laps
19. Katherine Legge Audi +2 laps
Fastest lap, Scheider 42.530 on lap 2