Crash.net caught up with rising star Gary Paffett at the
Autosport International show, and the young Briton was happy to discuss his introduction to the DTM in 2003 with Mercedes, and his first experiences of racing saloons in this first section of an extensive two-part Q&A.
Q:
Gary, when you spoke to
Crash.net this time last year you had high hopes for 2003, it didn’t turn out to be the year you were expecting then, but a good one nonetheless?
Gary Paffett:
I had very high hopes of doing well in Formula 3000 this time last year, we had a very good deal with a new team, Brand Motorsport, and the whole team and everyone involved was confident we could do well.
But, as soon as the season started, we lost a few of the engineers, and it all fell apart at the seams. I did one race, the season-opener at Imola, and didn’t finish too well, and after that the team decided to pull out of F3000, which left my team-mate Nicolas Minassian and me without drives. That must have been the lowest point of my career so far, it was mid-April and I had nowhere to go.
Fortunately, we had spoken earlier in the year to Mercedes about the DTM, and they still had a place available in one of their old cars. They obviously knew we had lost the F3000 drive, and contacted us to ask if I would be available to do the DTM. There wasn’t much else available, so we thought we’d give it a go. We had a very good relationship with them through
McLaren and the karting, and I had tested a DTM car before and they knew what I could do, so we decided to go ahead with it and I had a very good year - it was amazing.
Q:
Your background had entirely been in single-eaters, and you have been successful in almost everything you have done in them, did suddenly having a roof over your head come as a major change?
GP:
It was! As you say, my career had been single-eaters all the way through, and after one year in German Formula Three I was invited to test a DTM car with Mercedes. The car was great, and also in the
Autosport Awards I drove a DTM car and BTCC Vectra, but I never thought I would really end up there. We had spoken to Mercedes about it, and there had been rumours, but I was totally focussed on single-seaters until the drive with Brand going made me look elsewhere.
