Gary Paffett maintained his championship lead in the German-based DTM touring car series at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium on Sunday, adding to his impressive points tally despite incurring a drive-through pit penalty after a collision with a rival driver.

Gary’s weekend got off to a bright start in the Friday test sessions, setting the second-fastest lap time in the second session, two-tenths behind team-mate Jamie Green, but well clear of his ex-Formula 1 star colleagues Mika Hakkinen and Jean Alesi.

“The car was very good right from the start,” said Gary. “We tried four or five things on the car to see if it would make it quicker, but most of them didn’t work out, so it showed just how good a car we had from the beginning. We did a long run in the second session, but it rained halfway through so it was difficult to say exactly how strong we were, but we were second in the timesheets, so I was happy with that. I felt we were quick and consistent.”

Saturday dawned with heavy skies and pouring rain, giving Gary and his AMG Mercedes team a lot of work to do ahead of qualifying to perfect a wet set-up for his C-class racecar. Gary made it into the top 10 Super Pole session, but was unable to attempt his single flying lap due to damage sustained in an accident in the preliminary session.

“The first session was getting wetter and wetter,” said Gary. “Although the rain was getting worse, I was getting quicker as the tyres worked better and better, but the car began to aquaplane on the standing water. I locked a wheel going into the right-element of the Fagnes chicane, got on the kerb and the car spun backwards into the tyrewall. It wasn’t a big accident, but it was enough to do a lot of damage. Fortunately we hit the wall square-on, so there wasn’t any suspension damage, but there was just too much bodywork to repair in time. It was a shame, because I think we would have been able to set a very good time in the Super Pole, possible pole position.”

From 10th on the grid, Gary’s main aim for the race was to protect his championship lead by getting into a points scoring position as soon as possible. His cause wasn’t aided when privateer Mercedes driver Stefan Mucke tried two ambitious lunges at the opening La Source and Eau Rouge corners, but Gary was soon into his stride and passed former champion Laurent Aiello’s Opel to complete the opening lap in ninth position. On the second lap, he tried an identical overtaking move on the Audi of Pierre Kaffer, but the German driver turned into the corner as usual, despite the fact Gary was already alongside. Contact was made and Kaffer spun, for which the race stewards decided Gary was at fault and made him drive through the pit lane, costing him valuable time.

Despite this, and bodywork damage that caused his car to handle badly in fast corners, he battled his way back from second-to-last position to finish eighth, for which he scored a point.

Gary said: “I was in the process of passing Kaffer cleanly when he turned into the corner. He didn’t defend his position, but then turned into me anyway – it seemed like he wanted to crash on purpose! After the penalty, I drove as quickly as I could to regain the lost time, but I had a lot of oversteer due to the damage. But we’re still leading the championship, so I’m looking forward to the next race in Brno. I was the top Mercedes finisher there last year, so I’m confident I can do it again.”

Gary leads the DTM by two points ahead of his former Formula 1 star team-mates Mika Hakkinen (who won at Spa) and Jean Alesi. Reigning champion Mattias Ekstrom of Audi is also level with them.