Gary Paffett

Gary Paffett
Driver Details
Nationality	British
P.o.B.	Unknown
D.o.B.	31/08/1981
D.o.D.	Unknown
Début	Nürburgring 2003
Best Finish	1 (2005)
Previous Teams	Team Rosberg Persson Motorsport HWA AG
DTM Career
Entries	257 (257 Starts)
Wins	22
First Win	Hockenheim 2004
Poles	16
F.L.s	14
Points	1,067.5
Current Season
Team	ART Grand Prix
Car	Mercedes C63 DTM
Number	Standings	Points
2	–	'

Gary Paffett is a British racing driver and former DTM champion, having taken the 2005 crown. Paffett competes for Mercedes-Benz and ART Grand Prix in the 2015 DTM Championship, using the #2 Mercedes C63 DTM.

Current Season

Paffett took a third place, from 23rd on the grid, in the second race of the season opening DTM Festival, after retiring from the first race on Saturday. 

Background

Paffett's career began with two seasons of karting in the mid-1990s, before he stepped into the Formula Vauxhall Junior Championship. Taking that title on his second attempt, he took the full Vauxhall Championship in 1999, before taking the Scholarship Class in British Formula 3 in 2000. He followed that victory with two seasons in the German Formula 3 Championship, taking the title on his second attempt.

DTM History

Paffett was drafted into the Mercedes-Benz DTM programme after the start of the 2003, replacing Patrick Huisman at Team Rosberg at the Nürburgring. It took until the second meeting at the Nürburgring that season for Paffett to score a point, ending the season with four points. Three wins in the 2004 campaign, combined with a victory at the non-championship round in Shanghai, took Paffett to second in the championship. His three wins came at Hockenheim, the Norisring and the Nürburgring.

Master and McLaren

Victories at the Lausitzring, Oschersleben, Norisring, Zandvoort and Istanbul saw Paffett take the 2005 DTM Championship. His greatest achievement earned him a test driver role at the McLaren Formula One team for 2006, with the Brit leaving the DTM to fulfill his F1 ambitions. After a full years testing, however, restrictions in F1 meant that tests from 2007 onwards, would be increasingly limited, allowing Paffett to focus on the DTM (and F1 testing) once again in 2007.

It took just two races for Paffett to rediscover his title winning pace, with victory at Oschersleben. However, it was his only victory that year with Persson Motorsport and a year old Mercedes C-Class, which rather set the tone for 2008. Without a win in 2008, Paffett was moved to the HWA team for 2009, taking on the role as Mercedes' lead driver.

Mercedes' leading light

Paffett's 2009 campaign saw him fall just four points short of Timo Scheider's total, having won four races. Victories at the Lausitzring, Zandvoort, Dijon and Hockenheim were followed by a similarly successful 2010 campaign. Hockenheim, Zandvoort and Shanghai victories went to Paffett that season, before a barren 2011 season.

Runner-up in 2012 saw Paffett take victories at Hockenheim and at his home race at Brands Hatch. Yet, with Paffett unable to stand on the top step of the podium again that season saw him fall short of former teammate Bruno Spengler's championship winning total. 2013 saw yet another victory for Paffett at the Lausitzring, although it was to be his last for at least two years.

Paffett took over the development of the Mercedes C63 DTM during 2014, a fact that seriously harmed his points tally for the season. His work paid off, however, with Paffett returning to the podium at the first round of the 2015 season.

Full DTM Record

Paffett's full results from his 257 starts in the DTM are outlined in a series of tables below.

DTM Entries

The list below includes all of the teams and cars, as well as overall finishing positions for Paffett during his DTM career:

Gary Paffett's Overall DTM Record
Year	Entrant	No.	Car	Pos.	Pts.
2003	Team Rosberg	24	AMG-Mercedes CLK-DTM 2002	11th	4
2004	HWA Team	7	AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse 2004	2nd	57
2005	HWA Team	3	AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse 2005	1st	84
2007	Persson Motorsport	9	AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse 2006	9th	20.5
2008	Persson Motorsport	7	AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse 2007	9th	13
2009	HWA Team	10	AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse 2009	2nd	59
2010	HWA Team	3	AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse 2009	2nd	67
2011	HWA Team	2	AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse 2009	7th	25
2012	HWA Team	11	Mercedes C-Coupé	2nd	145
2013	HWA Team	3	Mercedes C-Coupé	6th	69
2014	HWA Team	11	Mercedes C-Coupé	22nd	5
2015	ART Grand Prix	2	Mercedes C63 DTM	9th	89
2016	ART Grand Prix	2	Mercedes C63 DTM

Career Results

Below is a table showing Gary Paffett's full DTM record.

Gary Paffett's DTM Championship Record
Year	Rounds											Pos.	Pts.
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11
2003												{{{11}}}	{{{12}}}
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
					Ret		15th		Ret					9th		8th		6th		12th		18th
2004												{{{12}}}	{{{13}}}
	1	2	3	4	5	NC†	6	7	8	9	10
	1st		13th		4th		DSQ		1st		1st			1st		4th		4th		3rd		3rd
2005												{{{12}}}	{{{13}}}
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11
	2nd		1st		8th		4th		1st		1st			3rd		1st		2nd		1st		3rd
2007												{{{11}}}	{{{12}}}
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
	8th		1st		8th		10th		4th					Ret		9th		12th		5th		Ret
2008												{{{12}}}	{{{13}}}
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11
	7th		11th		12th		10th		DSQ		11th			4th		8th		11th		4th		11th
2009												{{{11}}}	{{{12}}}
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
	Ret		1st		5th		1st		5th					8th		4th		4th		1st		1st
2010												{{{12}}}	{{{13}}}
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11
	1st		7th		5th		6th		3rd		1st			5th		4th		4th		2nd		1st
2011												{{{12}}}	{{{13}}}
	1	2	3	4	5	NC†	6	7	8	9	10
	6th		9th		8th		4th		Ret		10th			8th		4th		4th		8th		5th
2012												{{{12}}}	{{{13}}}
	1	2	3	4	5	NC†	6	7	8	9	10
	1st		2nd		1st		3rd		4th		3rd			6th		7th		2nd		Ret		2nd
2013												{{{11}}}	{{{12}}}
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
	4th		6th		9th		1st		18th					5th		17th		6th		9th		9th
2014												{{{11}}}	{{{12}}}
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
	12th		8th		Ret		12th		16th					17th		16th		13th		19th		10th Template:2015 Results/11

Results Key
Symbol	Meaning		Symbol	Meaning
1st	Winner		Ret	Retired
2nd	Second		DSQ	Disqualified
3rd	Third		DNS	Did Not Start
7th	Points Scorer		NC	Not Classified
Italics	Fastest Lap		CAN	Race Cancelled
16th	Non-points finish		†	Non-Championship Race
Bold	Pole Position		3	Points for Qualifying

References

Videos and Images:

• Mathieu Felten, 'Gary Paffett', wikipedia.org, (Wikipedia, 14/07/2006), http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Gary_Paffett#/media/File:Garypaffett.jpg, (Accessed 17/05/2015)

References: