Gary Paffett confident despite reduced lead

Gary Paffett had his championship lead reduced to just three points after a tough weekend at Valencia, the penultimate race of the year ahead of the final at Hockenheim.
“It’s been a really tough weekend. However we head to Hockenheim confident of securing another great result,” said Paffett.

The Mercedes driver has been in the lead since the season premiere at Hockenheim. But the race at Valencia saw Paffett being off pace all weekend, qualifying 16th and retired on lap 27 after sustaining damage from an incident with Joey Hand.
“Everyone has worked incredibly hard but unfortunately the pace just wasn’t there. We made some changes to the car ahead of the race so were confident we could make up some places but then the incident on lap two put a stop to that,” said Paffett.

While main title rival Bruno Spengler also had a tough weekend, the BMW driver managed to secure eight points at Valencia.

But despite having his championship lead reduced for the fourth race in succession, Paffett is confident ahead of the season final at Hockenheim.
“We proved at the start of the year with a one-two at Hockenheim that our car is very quick there. This is just one of those weekends in racing that you just need to draw a line under, and now the focus in on the final race of the season and winning the drivers championship,” said Paffett.