Gary Paffett – good result possible for Mercedes

Gary Paffett believes he can get a decent result in the final race of the 2013 DTM season at Hockenheim, despite Mercedes’ poor pace in the last two races.

Paffett qualified 14th at Hockenheim, but feels the extremely wet weather conditions could favour Mercedes on race day, given its strong performance in the last wet DTM race at the Nürburgring back in August this year which was won by his HWA team-mate, Robert Wickens.

“If it’s a wet race we could have a good result,” Paffett told TouringCarTimes. “However, that isn’t a given.

“It was wet at Nürburgring and we [Mercedes] were very good, but I don’t think we can’t bank on it being fantastic if it’s wet; if it’s wet, we have more of a chance, but we’ll still have to try very hard.

Despite his optimism, Paffett still feels Mercedes has dropped back from Audi and BMW in terms of race pace despite having made improvements in recent races.

“I think we’ve improved the car in qualifying, but in general I think we’re struggling over all; our difference between qualifying and race pace isn’t there anymore.”