Mixed feelings for Gary Paffett and Robert Wickens after qualifying

HWA Mercedes drivers, Gary Paffett and Robert Wickens, have mixed feelings after a difficult qualifying session at Zandvoort.

Paffett had a difficult practice session on Saturday morning, and then struggled with grip in qualifying which saw him drop out in Q2.

Despite being disappointed with 12th place on the grid, Paffett is confident in the race pace of his Mercedes C-Coupe and feels he can forward in tomorrow’s race on a track where he has already won three times.

“It was a difficult qualifying with unsatisfactory results for us,” said Paffett. “We ran into some problems in this morning’s practice session, so we made some more changes to the car before qualifying began.

“I was fifth in Q1, and things were looking much better. Unfortunately, I didn’t have much grip on my second run in Q2 and lost time on the first sector.

“Twelfth isn’t a great position, but I managed to push forward to sixth at Oschersleben from the same position and even made the podium at Brands Hatch, so it’s not all over yet.

We can still achieve a really good result in tomorrow’s race.”

However, Wickens, who qualified 21st, refused to comment on his race chances, but blamed himself for the error which saw him drop out in Q1.

“We had a tough time today,” said the Canadian. “I had problems right away, even in practice.

“Things were actually looking up a bit in qualifying, but I made a mistake in the final turn.

“It’s a very challenging track [so] if you make a mistake here, you pay a high price for it.

“Unfortunately, I made a particularly crucial error, and after that, could no longer improve on my time and was knocked out in Q1.”