Sunday 03, July 2011

DTM driver Gary Paffett's race at the Norisring was brought to a premature end due to a steering issue on lap 16.

The British racing driver had qualified strongly in second place on the grid; just 0.19 seconds off pole.  This was the first time this season that he had got through to Q4 of qualifying and Paffett and his THOMAS SABO AMG Mercedes C-Class were looking strong for the race.  

Due to the torrential rain, the race started behind the safety car.  The safety car stayed out for five laps on this short circuit to allow the drivers time to get sufficient heat into their tyres.

When the safety car went in, Paffett got a good start and was right on the back of first placed driver Spengler throughout the opening stages of the race.  Both Paffett and Spengler were setting a solid pace and began pulling away from third placed Green.  

On lap 16 heading into turn three, Paffett entered the second part of chicane, went to turn left but the car headed straight on into the concrete wall.  The heavy impact between the car and the wall ended Paffett's race immediately.    

"It was a fairly big impact but luckily I haven't picked up any injuries from it, which is the main thing. We had been looking very competitive all weekend and felt we could have been on for a win.   On a positive note, the car was really strong throughout the warm up sessions, qualifying and in the opening stages of the race.  However, it was disappointing that my race ended and I wasn't able to pick up some solid championship points;" commented Gary Paffett.

Gary Paffet heads to the Nurburgring, Germany for round six of the DTM Championship on August 7th.  Gary is currently ninth in the Championship with nine Championship points.