Two-times F1 world champion, Mika Hakkinen showed his class at Sp🦋a today [Sunday], by taking the win in only his third DTM race. 'The Flying Finn', who st♔arted from pole, eventually triumphed by 4.258 seconds.

🗹Although the Mercedes ace lost out at the start, when Ekstrom🉐 went in front, thanks to some quick laps and two perfect pit stops, Hakkinen got the upper hand.

During the course of the race, Mikka extended the gap between ꦗhimself and Ekstrom, even though he had to contest the race with 20 kilos of ballast weight, due to Mercedes' successes in the previous rounds.

"This has been a gr💮eat week for me, but an exhausting weekend," he said. "The qualifying already was a major challenge. I completely owe this victory to my team. The car works perfectly. T🌄he only thing I still have to practice is the start."

Ekstrom thus had to settle for second - however he f🦹reely admitted that he had no answer to Mika's pace.

"Usually, I like to defeat the guys in fro🃏nt of me. But I just wasn't able to get Mika Hakkinen under control, tౠhis weekend," he confirmed. "We had some bad luck regarding the pit stops and further details, but in DTM, everything has to be perfect if you want to win."

Tom Kristensen completed the podium, despite a race long batt☂le with Marcel Fassler.

"During the course of the entire race, I was fighting hard to defend my position against Marcel Fassler. The team has done a fantastic job to provide me with a perfect car. Quit🎉e obviously, I would love to soon take the lead in our 'Scandinavian Championship'," he joked.

Further back Jean Alesi was fourth, ahead of Fassler, Martin Tomczyk and Laurent Aiello. While Fassler lost out in the battle to beat Kristensen and slipped behind Alesi,🉐 his result did give Opel something to cheer about, as they finally notched up their first points of the season.

"Quite obviously, I'm not really happy with the result, ꦐbut we succeeded in scoring points, for the first time this season," he noted. "And I was involved in two fantastic battles. On the one hand with Tom Kristensen, in front of me, on the other with Martin Tomczyk, behind me."

Gary Paffet, who won the previous round, at the EuroSpeedway had to settle for eighth place. The Brit's race somewhat compromised after he was given a drive-through penalty, fol🅘lowing an unfair ma🐽noeuvre on Pierre Kaffer.

Paffett though could console himself with the fact that he at least keeps the lead in the championship𓂃, although Hakkinen, Alesi and Ekstrom are all pois✤ed to pounce in joint second, just two points behind.