Gary Paffett ecstatic after “incredible start of the season”
Mercedes AMG driver Gary Paffett scored an important victory today at the Lausitzring, the 22nd of his DTM career and second this season.
The Stuttgart-based manufacturer started the season with a mission to finish their involvement in the DTM as champions and the C63 DTMs have won three out of four races held so far. But Paffett has also been on a new level of performance, confirming that the form shown at the season opener two weeks ago wasn’t a mirage.
Paffett started from third on the second row of the grid, gaining a position as team-mate Pascal Wehrlein battled with BMW’s Philipp Eng and overtaking the Austrian a lap later to take the lead.
“That was a tough race. It was very hot out there, and the cars were sliding about quite a lot, which made it a far from easy race,” said the Briton. “Yesterday, I said that we would do our best, and today it was enough to win. We knew that our car was good.”
Paffett had a 3.5-second lead over Marco Wittmann during his second stint, which the BMW driver eroded lap by lap, with the Mercedes driver managing to just keep Wittmann out of DRS distance.
“After the pit stop, I was happy with the gap I’ d pulled out on the pursuing group, but on the last 15 laps, I had to push hard again to stay ahead of Marco. The tyres worked well right through to the finish, which allowed me to react to the quick times being set by him, who was gaining all the time.”
After the second round of the season, BMW’s Timo Glock still leads the championship with 72 points, one over Gary Paffett and 33 ahead of Wehrlein. “After two race weekends, I now have two wins under my belt – that’s an incredible start to the season,” added Paffett.
Wehrlein was also happy with his first podium since his return to the series: “It’s working out better and better for me, and I’m really happy today, although I lost out a bit in the race. It is always the case that I am never satisfied if I don’t win. But all that really matters for me is that things are getting better and I’m heading in the right direction.”
Mercedes placed three drivers in the top four positions of the second race at the Lausitzring, increasing their lead in the manufacturers’ championship to 212 points, 48 ahead of BMW and 160 over Audi.
Ulrich Fritz, Head of Mercedes AMG in the DTM, praised his team’s efforts: “What a fantastic race by Gary! He took the win in a very controlled fashion. Congratulations also to Pascal on his first podium since his return. This has been a great weekend for the entire team. Top job, guys!”
