Gary Paffett ups the pace at DTM testing

After a first day dominated by Robert Wickens who achieved a time of 1'06"735 on the Mercedes Class C AMG, Gary Paffett raised the bar yesterday by completing a lap of the Catalunya circuit in 1'06"149. “Apart from the rain that fell during the morning, it was another good day of testing in Barcelona”, declared the Briton. “We focused on long runs with standard and option tires to work on balance and performance differences. It's nice to finish highest on the time sheet even if it doesn't count. »

Among the 11 drivers present on the track, the BMW M3 DTM of Augusto Farfus and Timo Glock were the closest to the first Mercedes since they were only a few thousandths behind. The former Marussia resident F1 Team is already showing a nice burst of speed on its new mount. “I was more comfortable than on Tuesday. We were able to complete a lot of laps and it was very useful both for a new team and for me who is a rookie in DTM. I still have problems understanding how the standard tires work, but I was still less unhappy with my long stints. I also had a lot of fun with the optional erasers. We will continue to work at Hockenheim and I will make the best use of the short preparation time before the start of the season. »

The Mercedes C-Class AMGs of Robert Wickens and Daniel Juncadella completed the top five on day two more than five tenths off the fastest time while the BMW M3 DTM of Martin Tomczyk finished more than a second behind. Timo Scheider placed the first Audi RS5 DTM in seventh place.