Mercedes’ Gary Paffett says that his battle for the lead with BMW’s Timo Glock in the second DTM race at Hockenheim made it ‘the best race’ he had ever driven in.
Paffett, who has been racing in the DTM since 2003, was embroiled in a titanic battle for the lead with Glock in the second half of the race, ultimately culminating in the German coming out on top after Paffett ran out of DRS usage.
The 2005 champion praised Glock for the clean fight, and admitted that he had no regrets about not simply settling for second, which could have prevented him from ultimately slipping to third.
“I love Timo – that was incredible,” said Paffett. “We could have both backed off at any time and taken second place, because we knew that the others were eventually going to catch up with us.
“But neither of us wanted to give up. At the end of the day, third place is disappointing, but it was worth it and it was the best race I’ve ever driven in. A fight for the win like that is absolutely incredible.
“I used up my DRS relatively early on. That’s why I just wanted to get past Timo and pull out a one-second gap. But every time I looked in the mirror, it wasn’t quite enough and there he was again.”
Mercedes’ Head of Motorsport for the DTM Ulrich Fritz was full of praise for the podium drivers, which included Audi’s Mike Rockenfeller after he passed Paffett for the place on the last lap.
“What Timo, Gary and Mike showed today was racing at its best,” said Fritz. “It turned out badly for us, unfortunately, but I can hardly remember a more intense, closer finish than today’s.
“At any rate, we had obviously hoped to do more after qualifying. Nevertheless, we can certainly be satisfied with this weekend’s result.”