Gary Paffett: “I was definitely in line for pole”

Mercedes’ Gary Paffett believes he should have been on pole position for tomorrow’s DTM race at the Lausitzring.

The Briton finished in the top-three in three of today’s four qualifying sessions, but was pipped by 0.225 seconds at the last hurdle by HWA team-mate, Christian Vietoris, due to a mistake and eventually finished second.

Paffett believes had it not been for his error at Turn Four, he would have been able to have scored Mercedes’ first 2013 pole position, and his first since the Norisring last year.

“My car was really strong today, and everything went as it should. I was definitely in line for pole until, unfortunately, I made a small mistake on Turn Four,” said Paffett. “That makes me feel bad, since the guys in the team did such a great job this weekend.”

The 2005 DTM champion also said that the qualifying problems at Mercedes were not as bad as they seemed, as he felt the car had top-five potential at the last race in Spielberg and that the team is steadily working to address the issues.

“My car was improving in terms of performance even at the last race in Spielberg and a place among the top-five on the grid would have been possible but for the problems I encountered.

“Sometimes it takes a little time to get things sorted, but we’re certainly on the right track.”