Photo by: XPB Images
British racing driver Gary Paffett added to his already impressive number of podium finishes yesterday with a second place finish at Oschersleben. Yesteday’s result see Paffett maintain his DTM Championship lead with two rounds to go.
Saturday afternoon saw one of the closest qualifying sessions of the year so far. Paffett comfortably made it into Q4 and was only pipped to pole position by 0.086 seconds.
On Sunday afternoon Paffett and pole sitter Spengler made textbook starts and maintained their positions into turn one. Almost immediately, the two drivers were able to pull away from the rest of the field. On lap 13 Spengler made an early pitstop, with Paffett coming in three laps later. After everyone had taken their first pitstops of the afternoon, Paffett was running strongly in P2.
Paffett and Spengler continued to set near identical lap times and pull out a gap ahead of third placed Green. On lap 29 Spengler pitted for his second stop with Paffett coming in one lap later. The gap between Paffett and Spengler was now 3.5 seconds and on this set of tyres Paffett was able to start closing the gap to the BMW driver.
Setting consistently quicker lap times than Spengler in the closing stages of the race, Paffett had got the gap down just six tenths when the checkered flag fell after 51 laps of racing. Paffett crossed the finish line in a dominant second place; over 15 seconds ahead of third placed Green.
“It is great to be back on the podium after two tricky races at Zandvoort and the Nurburgring. The team has done a fantastic job all weekend; giving me a car that handled beautifully in both qualifying and the race. Bruno and I were so evenly matched throughout the weekend and we pulled out a strong gap from the rest of the field during the race.
I was able to catch Bruno in the final stint and had there been a couple more laps of the race still to go I am sure I could have taken the win;” commented Gary Paffett.
“It’s a little disappointing not to have come away with a win but Bruno did a fantastic job and we both pushed hard throughoutthe race. We head to Valencia still leading the drivers Championship and will be aiming to go one better and secure another win in Spain;” continued Gary Paffett.
Paffett heads to Valencia on the 30th September for the next round of the Championship.
Paffett currently leads the drivers’ Championship with 127 points with Spengler in second place with 116 points and Green in third place with 108 points.
Source: Gary Paffett
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