DTM: Paffett says ART already helping Mercedes

Gary Paffett says DTM newcomer ART Grand Prix has already played a part in Mercedes' resurgence in the series.

The open-wheel racing organization made its DTM debut at Hockenheim earlier this month, with 2005 champion Paffett one of three Mercedes-Benz drivers to finish on the podium across the two races. A year earlier, the brand left Hockenheim's opener without scoring a single point.

"They've helped push Mercedes-Benz forward in the DTM, which is good," Paffett told AUTOSPORT. "The engineers only saw this car at the start of the year, and they've really got the hang of it already.

"They're doing a great job on the setup and have some great ideas that are pushing the HWA guys. You'd imagine that with ART coming in, it would just be HWA feeding them information all of the time. But there's information going backwards and forwards and it's working really well.

"We're really impressed with how they've got up to speed –I can see the team having a good future in the DTM."

Paffett's Sunday charge from 23rd to third began when ART overruled its driver and made a late call to pit him for wets on what became the optimal lap, gaining 10 places by doing so. He started at the rear after being excluded from qualifying for not having the session's mandatory DRS blocker installed.

In what had been a disastrous weekend, it came a day after Paffett was excluded from Saturday qualifying when mechanics changed a broken sensor during parc ferme conditions. Teammate Lucas Auer missed all of Friday practice with a gearbox problem and both drivers were eliminated from the opening race by BMW driver Martin Tomczyk.

"They're a new team, but they won't accept [mistakes] themselves because they're a new team," Paffett said of the teething problems. "They will be beating themselves up, they'll be annoyed with themselves for making the mistake.

"Both times we've been put to the back of the grid for a technical infringement, but both times it's been something very minor that actually hasn't impacted on performance at all, so it's been very frustrating. Everybody makes mistakes, but with the effort they put, in they deserved a good result."

Originally on Autosport.com