Bromley’s Gary Paffett had a frustrating end to the season in the final round of the 2013 DTM Championship finishing ninth in wet conditions.
The pace last weekend wasn’t quite there for Paffett as he looked to end the season on a high at the Hockenheim circuit.
The 32-year-old qualified a disappointing 16th with lack of speed being the main factor. He had a decent result in Q1 ending up seventh, but in Q2 the other teams were able to take it to a whole new level. With the weather looking like it was going to wet on race day and Paffett knowing that he has a decent car in the wet he felt fairly hopeful that he could bring home a good result.
The EURONICS – Mercedes AMG C-Coupé was pretty strong at times and Paffett was able to make some passes and set some of the fastest laps, but unfortunately in the middle of the race, a wrong tyre pressure choice meant he struggled for grip. By the time the tyres had got back up to temperature, he had fallen back again.
Not only this but after about 20 laps, Paffett’s left-side door flew open, which was not only a problem aerodynamically but also distracting to Paffett. This tried to be fixed during the next pit stop, but unfortunately came ajar again shortly after.
Paffett was able to creep his way back into the top-10 to pick up a few points and finish the race ninth.
Speaking at the end of the race weekend, Gary said: “Overall it wasn’t the best way to finish the season but at the same time it wasn’t the worse either. I am disappointed with how we qualified as the team had worked so hard to try and find some speed in between races. I have to congratulate my team mate Roberto (Merhi) on his first podium, but it just shows you if we had the right car what we could have done. I did enjoy the race though when we were quick.
“I was able to catch up and make some passes and occasionally get bumped about but that is what makes touring car the series it is. We will go away this off-season and work hard on trying to find the pace we need for next year and hopefully come back even stronger.”
Paffett finished the 2013 DTM season sixth in the championship standings with 69 points and will return to the Mercedes-Benz team for his 11th season and the second in the EURONICS sponsored Mercedes AMG C-Coupé.