Having taken his 150th Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters start at the first race of the weekend at Lausitz, Mercedes-AMG Motorsport’s Gary Paffett felt that there was a potential of securing another podium finish in race two, to add to the second place he secured at Hockenheim.
The Briton would eventually end up 0.353 seconds behind stable mate Robert Wickens at the finish, with the latter taking his fourth successive podium at the Brandenburg-based circuit in two years.
“I started from P4 on the grid and placed fourth, so I’m satisfied, but not ecstatic about it. I would have liked to have finished on the podium,” said the Suffolk-based driver, who is now third in the standings behind current leader Lucas Auer and Audi Sport Team Rosberg’s Jamie Green.
“For a lot of the race, it looked as if I could do it. I had a couple of battles during the first five rounds and pulled off some good manoeuvres against [Maxime] Martin and Blomqvist, after which I was third behind Jamie and Robert.”
Mattias Ekström was one of two drivers to opt for an early pit stop on the end of the first lap, along with Audi Sport teammate Mike Rockenfeller.
Over the course of the race, the overall race pace from the Ingolstadt marque’s leading drivers was very consistent, with the Swede getting past on lap 14 for what was 13th place after Paffett’s mandatory stop.
“Ekström, who had stopped very early and whose tyres were up to temperature, managed to get past after the pit stop. Although I think I was maybe a bit faster than Eki, I couldn’t find a way past him. We just weren’t quite fast enough on the straights.”