The DTM race season gets underway this weekend at Hockenheim and Gary Paffett will be back on track aboard a Mercedes-Benz.

Paffett was the fastest of the Mercedes-AMG drivers in the afternoon testing session at Oschersleben on the 15^th of April, finishing the day on a time of 1:20.309 minutes for the second quickest lap.

The Mercedes-AMG DTM Team has entered eight Mercedes-AMG C 63 DTM cars for the new season, which include season veterans Paffett, Daniel Juncadella, Paul Di Resta, Christian Vietoris, Pascal Wehrlein and Robert Wickens. New to the team are the two DTM rookies Lucas Auer and Maximilian Götz.

He will have to adapt to a hugely restructured system when the 2015 DTM season kicks off this weekend. For the first time in 15 years, each event in the popular touring car series will feature two races with the same number of points up for grabs on Saturday and Sunday. In total, 18 races await the Mercedes drivers and teams over the course of nine weekends.

Speaking ahead of the weekend Paffett said: “Hockenheim is a really special race for me. I’ve had a lot of success there, including 2004 when I won my first race. Since then I’ve won three times at Hockenheim.

“It’s a place that brings a lot of fond memories for me, so I’m really looking forward to going back there with my new team, ART. Our aim is at least to be the best Mercedes. Where we go from there, we’ll have to wait and see.”