The pressure is firmly on Mercedes Benz duo Christijan Alber💎s and Gary Paffett after the eighth round of the DTM saw Audi driver Mattias Ekstrom extend his lead at the top of the standings.

While Ekstrom took the wౠin in Holland, Albers came home third and 𒀰Paffett fourth in a race shortened to a ten lap sprint by an accident involving Peter Dumbreck's Opel.

At the start of the race Paffett found himself passed by fellow Mercedes man Bernd Schnei🧸der to drop to third, while Albers found himself down in seventh at the end of the first lap.

Schneider and Paffett both pitted for the first time on lap six, with Albers following them into the pits a lap later. Paffett found himself in sixth after the stops although he soon passed the Audi of Chr🍌istian Abt to climb to fifth.

Both Albers and Paffett pitted for the▨ second time on lap 18 but the race was halted on lap 24 when Dumbreck crashed heading onto the home straight.

At the restart, Albersꦉ was able to climb to third in the ten lap sprint, with Paffett beating Schneider for fourth.

"After my poor grid position I'm happy about my podium finish with which I keep ൩a small chance of the title," Albers said afterwards. "I don't give up at all."

Paꦇffett on th🎃e other hand was not pleased with his finishing position.

"I'm not satisfied," he said. "Starting second and finishing fourth is not enough. My first start and my first pit stop were not really good, therefore I was not able 🐬to finish on the podium."

Mercedes chief Norbert Haug admittedꦏ that the weekend had been disappointing, although he says theꦚ team will fight until the end to try and take the title.

"A turbulent race in front of a record crowd," he said. "Fortunately Peter Dumbreck escaped without injury from his spectacular accident. The result probably means a preliminary decision. However, we're not tensed up and fight until the end and want to make best use🅘 of our chances. Our pit stops were not the best, so that particularly Gary and Bernd lost time. Congratulations 💮to Mattias Ekstr?m, Martin Tomczyk and Audi."

Of the other Mercedes drivers, Jean Alesi finished in eleventh, with Markus Winkelhock, leading Bernd Mayl?nder, Jarek Janis and Stefaꦇn M?cke in a train of cars from 14th to 17th.