When the DTM visited the Lausitzring last year, Mercedes-Benz’s Gary Paffett was the man that helped the Stuttgart manufacturer secure its tenth win at the Brandenburg-based circuit.
It continued a run of success for Mercedes, following on from Peter Dumbreck’s sole win back in 2001, with Paffett eyeing up a better run of form as the season comes to a close.
The Brit, who won the 2005 title, is eighth on the grid for this afternoon’s race, which is his highest result since taking fifth in qualifying at Norisring back in June. He admitted that his timed laps were not as best as they could have been: “In Q2, I was in P5 and did a purple in the first sector, so I was pretty happy with the car. But unfortunately in Q3, I made a couple of small mistakes, which meant that I didn’t make the most of the session.”
The Suffolk-based driver felt that the C-Class AMG Coupé was working well in the changing conditions, giving him a good feeling about how qualifying ended up. It shows a turn around in form for the Brit, who has been either at mid-table or right at the very back of the grid for the majority of the season.
This was not helped by the fact that there has been a lot of change at Mercedes, following on from the departure of HWA’s Gerhard Unger earlier this year, but strides forward have been made.
Paffett still remains optimistic of a promising result during today’s race, but a win could possibly be out of the question, but getting points on the board could make up for what has been another difficult year: “Getting into Q3 is a big step forward and gives us a decent chance to have a good race.”
