The penultimate round of the 2017 DTM season is here and it’s a trip to Spielberg, Austria, for Gary Paffett as he is set to compete in the eighth round of the season at the Red Bull Ring.

After a disappointing weekend at the Nürburgring, where the Fitbit-sponsored driver’s great pace wasn’t rewarded with similar results, Gary moves out of Germany and into neighbouring Austria for a pivotal round of the DTM season.

With just two race weekends left in the season, and still 100 points on offer, the year enters a crucial stage with all to play for in all three of the championships. Gary currently occupies 11th in the Drivers’ Championship with 76 points, while his Mercedes Me team is tied in 3rd place in the Team’s Standings with Mercedes currently sitting in 2nd in the Manufacturers’.

This weekend’s round sees a trip to the picturesque Red Bull Ring that is nestled in the alpine panorama of the Stryia region and is the highest circuit on the DTM calendar at an altitude of 700 metres. Popular with the drivers, the circuit is technically challenging with its unusually large climbs and gradients of up to 12 percent.

Gary’s record at the track has seen him compete in every race since its debut in the DTM back in 2011. In the eight races that have been contested at the circuit, Gary has finished twice on the podium – most recently with a second-place finish in 2015.

Gary is hoping to bounce back from the disappointment of the Nürburgring two weeks ago.

“I’m really looking forward to getting back in the car. The Nürburgring was really disappointing. We had a great car and the pace was good all weekend, but I obviously didn’t get the results I wanted. I can’t wait to get into the car at Spielberg, and I’m looking for some really strong results again.”

With performance weights now dropped for the rest of the season, Ulrich Fritz, Head of Mercedes-AMG Motorsport DTM, has the ‘utmost confidence’ Mercedes will be competitive this weekend.

“After our strong weekend at the Nürburgring, we still have three drivers in contention for the title. Of all the drivers on our team, Luggi in P2 has the best hand to play, of course, but both Rob and Paul have shown impressive form in the last few races. If they can keep it up, the two of them are still in with a chance. It’s obviously great for the fans how tight it is at the top of the DTM this year. It’s not often you see that. In Spielberg, we now have a track that did not suit us at all last year. The surface is smooth with very few irregularities. That tends to play to the advantage of our opponents. But I have the utmost confidence that our engineers will identify a good setup and that we will come away with a good result.”