Tomczyk gets grid drop after clash with Paffett

Martin Tomczyk has been given a grid drop penalty for the coming DTM round after his incident with Gary Paffett at Zandvoort.
“Personally I think the penalty is too harsh, but I accept it,” said Tomczyk.

The incident occurred as a shower of rain had hit the track. Tomczyk locked up his brakes and slid in to Paffett in the first corner, resulting in a retirement for the BMW driver while the Mercedes was able to continue, but down in 11th position.
“My wheel locked as I braked into the corner. I wanted to go round Gary Paffett but didn’t manage it. This incident came about as a result of the conditions. There had already been a few excursions from the wet track shortly beforehand. I had to retire after the crash. I feel sorry for Gary. I am a fair sportsman and immediately apologised to Norbert Haug, who accepted the apology. Afterwards I also went to see Gary,” said Tomczyk.

Paffett was able to fight back up to seventh position, but lost a lot of points and had to see his championship lead shrink.
“While it’s disappointing to be coming away with a seventh place finish, we can be pleased with the fact we recovered well from a racing incident that was out of our control. Unfortunately we were looking good for at least a podium finish, if not a win, and this would have helped me extend my championship lead,” said Paffett.

Jamie Green and Bruno Spengler are Paffett’s closest rivals for the title after Zandvoort, 16 and 18 points behind respectively with three races left of 2012.
“Although my Championship lead has been reduced over the last two races it has not been because of our performance which has been really strong, so we head to the next race confident of a good result and extending our lead in the championship,” said Paffett.