Through the first half of the race, the new Audi A4 DTM’s first victory of the season seemed to be within reach: following a perfect start, Mattias Ekström moved up to lead the field, returning from the first lap with a two-second advantage to defend his lead all the way through to the 10th of 24 laps. A problem during his first pit stop, however, caused Ekström to drop behind the ultimate winner, Mika Häkkinen. Thereafter, the current DTM Champion drove a tactical race, securing eight valuable points.
 
Struck by bad luck was Allan McNish: practically sure to be scoring his first DTM points, the former Formula 1 driver had to park his Audi A4 DTM three laps before the finish because of a left rear tyre puncture. Defeated below their true potential, as well, were the drivers of last year’s Audi A4 DTM cars: Christian Abt, who had started from position three on the grid, forfeited his chance of a fifth-place finish when he crossed the white line at the pit lane exit which earned him a drive-through penalty. Pierre Kaffer, who had been fifth in the Qualifying, was hit by a rival in the early stages of the race, causing him to drop to the back of the field to ultimately finish in 14th place. Frank Stippler and Rinaldo Capello worked their way up from starting positions 20 and 18 to 11th and 13th.

Rinaldo Capello (Audi Sport Team Joest #18) 13th place, at 55"961
"In the starting phase, someone crashed into my rear pretty hard. Then – at the end of the first lap – another guy hit my left door. Afterwards, the car was understeering heavily and much slower on the straights than usual.”