Gary Paffett’s fourteenth season in the DTM reached its conclusion with races seventeen and eighteen of the season in Hockenheim at the weekend.

Unfortunately for the experienced British driver, the season ended with P19 and P15 finishes after contact in Sunday’s race ended his hopes of a podium finish following an excellent performance in qualifying.

After a strong lap in Saturday’s qualifying session, Paffett was disappointed to find himself P13 on the grid. A typically competitive race followed with Gary crossing the line in P19 before immediately focussing his attention to the season-ending race thr following day.

“I was quite satisfied with the way qualifying went and thought that my lap was good. P13 on the grid then was a big disappointment. In the race itself, I immediately fell a long way back at the start. Then Timo Scheider pushed me out wide and I was way behind everyone else. After that, it was all about bringing the car home in one piece for tomorrow. Hopefully we’ll have a better day.”

Sunday’s race promised to be more successful for Paffett after another excellent performance in qualifying saw him lining up for the season finale in P2 on the grid. After challenging hard for the lead, Paffett made contact with Felix da Costa in one of the scraps and was given a drive-through penalty. He subsequently dropped back to the rear of the field. After achieving podiums in Zandvoort and Moscow, he finished his 14th DTM season in P15 at Hockenheim.

“What a disappointing race! I got a good start and was in second place behind Antonio Felix da Costa. I was much faster than him and tried to overtake, using DRS. We were wheel-to-wheel when he turned in, forcing me to run wide. On the next lap in Turn 8, I made to pass on the inside, but he braked very early and turned in again. I made contact with the rear of his car and was given a drive-through penalty. All in all, it’s a real shame, because we’ve worked so hard to achieve success this year. It’s disappointing to end the season like this when a win should have been possible today.”

The weekend’s results mean that Paffett ends the 2016 season in eleventh position in the Drivers’ Championship, the third best performing Mercedes-AMG driver of the season.