More Germans watch Sepang twilight race

(GMM) Sunday's Malaysian grand prix may have been one of the shortest formula one races in history, but Bernie Ecclestone will be pleased with television figures now emerging from Europe.

As in Australia, the start-time for the Sepang race was blown out to 5pm, providing a more comfortable day-time rather than painfully early-morning TV viewing time.

RTL, the free to air F1 broadcaster in Germany, is reporting an average audience for the rain-shortened 2009 race of 5.37 million spectators: nearly 40 per cent of the market share.

Last year, when the Malaysian grand prix began hours earlier, more than one million fewer Germans tuned in to watch the Sepang action live.