Gary Paffett was in action last weekend in the latest rounds of the 2016 DTM season, as Spielberg Austria played host to some high octane racing.

Sadly for Gary it wasn’t the best weekend as his efforts went unrewarded in the Mercedes-AMG as a series of problems saw his efforts to come through the field in both races thwarted.

An electrical problem meant that Gary didn’t manage to complete a timed lap in FP2, giving him an unfavourable P23 start for race 1. Despite the odds being stacked against him, he managed to achieve P18.

Speaking after race one, Paffett said: “I had to start the race from 23rd on the grid after missing free practice. It’s really tough without the chance to practise before qualifying, but my pace and balance were quite good in the race. However, it was still very difficult to move forwards, especially as I didn’t want to damage my car. I hope that we’ll have a better day tomorrow.”

In race 2, Paffett went on a strong charge, as he had done in Hockenheim, but contact on the final lap left him struggling for position. By this stage, the 2005 DTM Champion had worked his way ten places up the field and was battling Timo Scheider (Audi) for tenth place. Paffett dropped back down to P13 after the contact with Scheider.

He added: “What a frustrating end to the race weekend! We had a fast car in the race, but that was not the case in qualifying, unfortunately. I still can’t quite get my head around it. The race went really well until the last lap. I saved up my DRS for the final sprint and caught up with the guys in front relatively easily. Then, Timo Scheider made a mistake in Turn 2, and I moved to pass on the inside. At that point, he simply pushed me off onto the grass.”

Paffett will next be in action at the Lausitzring, Germany, where the third race weekend of the season will be staged from 3rd to 5th June.