Mercedes-AMG Motorsport’s Gary Paffett was elated after securing his 22nd career win in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters, but he admitted that it was not easy going during the latter phase of the race.
Paffett was able to hit the front of the field in the initial stages, passing both pole sitter Philipp Eng and Stuttgart stablemate, but came under increasing pressure from BMW’s Marco Wittmann.
“That was a tough race. It was very hot out there, and the cars were sliding about quite a lot, which made it a far from easy race,” explained the Briton, who is now again only one point in the drivers’ standings behind Timo Glock.
The Suffolk-based driver now has four wins to his credit at the Brandenburg-based, the last of which was back in 2013 with HWA, and was understandably happy about his best start to a DTM season in recent times.
“Yesterday, I said that we would do our best, and today it was enough to win. We knew that our car was good,” stated the 37-year-old, who finished the first race in ninth place.
“After two race weekends, I now have two wins under my belt – that’s an incredible start to the season.”
Paffett also said that with Wittmann pitting slightly later, it was more taxing for the Mercedes driver to manage the gap when he had to keep at full speed to remain on course for the win.
“After the pit stop, I was happy with the gap I’d pulled out on the pursuing group, but on the last 15 laps, I had to push hard again to stay ahead of Marco (Wittmann).
“Thanks to the whole team. It’s been a great day and a well-deserved victory for them.”