Gary Paffett without reward after strong race in Spielberg

Mercedes AMG driver Gary Paffett was left frustrated and without points after a last lap incident hampered his progress. The Briton led a strategy that could have taken him to the top ten, but was 13th in the end.

Paffett started the race from the 21st spot on the grid, after a poor qualifying session, which highlighted the problems of the C63 DTM in Spielberg. Never giving up, the Briton recovered positions during the race, saved DRS activations for the last laps and came close to being in the top 10. Unfortunately for him, and when he was trying to overtake Audi’s Timo Scheider to get into the points positions, the German driver pushed him on the grass, causing Paffett to lose several positions.

Paffett was far than happy with the outcome of the race: “What a frustrating end to the race weekend! We had a fast car in the race, but that was not the case in qualifying, unfortunately. I still can’t quite get my head around it. The race went really well until the last lap. I saved up my DRS for the final sprint and caught up with the guys in front relatively easily. Then, Timo Scheider made a mistake in Turn 2, and I moved to pass on the inside. At that point, he simply pushed me off onto the grass.”

Paul Di Resta had a day to forget, qualifying last and finishing the race in 15th position. Still, the Scot keeps the lead in the Drivers’ standings, hoping for brighter results in the forthcoming races: “I almost stalled the car at the start. We need to look more closely at that. I then had a bad pit stop, unfortunately. Later, on the final turn, other drivers didn’t stick to the track limits, so I couldn’t get close enough to overtake. The car clearly had plenty of pace in the race. Unfortunately, the floor got broken in qualifying. I’m now hoping that we’ll have a better weekend at the next races.”

The three-point star manufacturer didn’t score any points today, finishing a very difficult weekend at the Styrian track. Team HWA driver Daniel Juncadella was the best placed man for the outfit, in 12th place, but took solace in the form shown by the C63 DTM: “We didn’t secure any points in the end, unfortunately, but I had a strong race. My pace was good at the start. Too bad that I lost a lot of time at the pit entrance behind Rockenfeller, prior to my pit stop. I can’t understand why he went so slowly. That cost me two places, which meant that points were no longer achievable. However, what’s important is that our pace was better today.”

Ulrich Fritz, Head of DTM at Mercedes AMG, is already looking ahead: “When you can retain the lead in the championship after such an unremarkable weekend, then you would probably say that you have taken a bit of a beating. Still, what happened at Spielberg obviously cannot be what we aspire to. Gary was in line to take one match point but was again forced off track by Timo Scheider on the final lap. The pace was there during the race and Robert posted the fastest lap, which at least gives us some hope for the Lausitzring.”

The third round of the 2016 DTM season takes place in Lausitzring from the 3rd to the 5th of June.