The weekend was of mixed fortunes for Gary Paffett as he competed in the 5th and 6th races of the DTM series held at the Lausitzring, Germany.

An unfortunate incident in Saturday’s race caused Paffett to struggle for position, but Sunday saw better results as he finished P5 in the second of the DTM races, scoring vital points.

Paffett, driving car #2, the Euronics Mercedes-AMG C 63 DTM for team ART, took P12 in qualifying for Saturday’s race. A good start was hampered following an unfortunate incident which lost some valuable time but despite this still managed to take a respectable P14 by the chequered flag.

Speaking about Saturday’s race, Paffett commented: “Starting from outside of the Top 10 made things tough from the beginning, but I made a good start and moved up a couple of positions. Tambay came through on the inside towards the end of the first lap in Turn 8 and simply forced me off the track into the gravel at the exit from the corner.”

“That cost me six or seven positions. I could then still manage to battle my way forward a bit after that, but when you lose so much time, it’s impossible to make up for it. That was very disappointing.”

Sunday saw the 35 year old return to his usual blistering pace, as he took P6 in qualifying. Starting P5 in the race, he managed to gain as many places as he lost, finishing the race P5.

He commented: “My goal was to actually finish on the podium from fifth place on the grid, but I damaged my car a bit while overtaking Timo Scheider. I lost some grip on the front as a result. In the end, I couldn’t hold off Jamie Green and Mattias Ekström behind me.”

“They were simply quicker than me at the time. Fifth place brings some good points with it, but it’s slightly disappointing, because I had set my heart on finishing third.”

The next highlight of the season will be held at the Norisring in Nuremberg from 24th-26th June. The street circuit next to the Dutzendteich is traditionally one of the high points of the DTM year.