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Gary Paffett slams ‘reckless’ Tomczyk

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Mercedes’ Gary Paffett has called for a clampdown on dangerous driving after slamming Martin Tomczyk’s on-track behaviour at Sunday’s DTM season opener.

The Brit eventually finished fourth at Hockenheim, but believes the stewards must take action following an on-track battle with Tomczyk, which saw the RMG BMW driver brake-test the Mercedes on lap 13; a move which Paffett described to AUTOSPORT as “unacceptable” after the race.

This most recent run-in is not the first between the two drivers, with the previous taking place at Zandvoort last season when Tomczyk spun Paffett out of the race, after which the stewards issued a grid-penalty to the 2011 title winner for the next round.

“He [Martin] caught me at a time when he was on the option tyre and I didn’t make it difficult for him to pass; it made no sense to,” Paffett said to AUTOSPORT.

“[And] when I caught him later on and we were fighting with Bruno [Spengler] he just brake-tested me on the straight. I don’t understand why people do stupid things like that.

“I spoke to him afterwards and he told me he had wheelspin and didn’t brake, but you could see the brake lights come on in the TV replay.

“A bit of rubbing side-to-side I can live with, but when you brake-test someone on the straight it’s not racing; it is pure dangerous, reckless driving and you should be punished.”

Paffett also hit out at the DTM’s organizers, the ITR, for “a lack of control of the regulations” after reigning champion and Tomczyk’s BMW stablemate, Bruno Spengler, twice exceeded track limits whilst overtaking the Mercedes driver.

“He did something that isn’t allowed in the regulations and it’s pretty clear about that,” continued Paffett to Autosport.

“They haven’t given him a penalty and that shows a lack of control of the regulations.”