Monday 08, August 2011

British DTM driver Gary Paffett drove a strong race through the field to finish in eighth position at the Nurburgring in Germany.

Saturday's qualifying session proved to be a bit of a lottery with heavy rain falling prior to the session and the teams faced with a difficult call for when best to go out on track.  Paffett headed out towards the end of the session and pulled together a lap that saw him line up thirteenth on the grid. 

Paffett made a strong start and was up to P9 by the end of lap one. The next few laps saw Paffett close right up on the back of eighth placed Molina, but with less than a second separating eighth place to twelfth place, Paffett also had to defend against an ever-present Albuquereque and van der Zande. 

On lap nine while Paffett was trying to overtake Molina, Albuquerque was able to get up alongside Paffett and, along with van der Zande, managed to squeeze past to take ninth and tenth position.  It took just two laps for Paffett to re-pass the two drivers. 

Paffett made his first pit stop of the afternoon on lap 12 and, after everyone had pitted, was running in P10.  Eight laps later the THOMAS SABO AMG Mercedes C-Class driver had caught and passed Molina for P9 and now had his sights on Albuquerque. 

On lap 28 Paffett pitted for the second time and was able to jump Albuquerque in the pit stops for P8.  Paffett's next target was Mortara and he spent the remainder of the race closing up on the back of the Italian.  

After 49 laps of racing, Paffett crossed the finish line in eighth place, 0.7 seconds behind the battle for P5, and picked up a Championship point.

"We knew we were in for a tough race after qualifying P13, so considering where I started on the grid I am happy to have made up five positions to finish in P8.  I was very happy with my start and, with the cars so evenly matched this year, it was a tough but enjoyable fight through the field to finish eighth;" commented Gary Paffett. 

"I set the second fastest lap of the race so it is encouraging to see that the pace is there. We now head to my home race at Brands Hatch next month which I always look forward.  The support from the home crowd is always great and definitely gives us British drivers an added boost!" continued Paffett. 

Gary Paffett heads to Brands Hatch, England for round seven of the DTM Championship on September 4th.  Gary is currently ninth in the Championship with ten Championship points.