Honda's revelation that it has signed Christian Klien to be its test and reserve driver for next season has left Gary Paffett out in the cold, but the Brit's management company says a new deal for the former DTM champ will be unveiled in the upcoming days.
Paffett had been strongly tipped for the third driver slot at Honda following a year spent in the same role at
McLaren, but today's announcement means he will now have to look elsewhere for next year. Although the 25-year-old is still in contention for a race seat at Woking alongside reigning world champion
Fernando Alonso, little mention has been made of his name in that respect in recent weeks, and his hopes would appear to be receding.
Mark Blundell though, who manages Paffett alongside fellow former grand prix ace Martin Brundle at 2MB, is confident an alternative deal is on the cards.
“We have to look at the bigger picture and what is best for Gary's future,” he told
Crash.net. “Honda were very good people to deal with, but we had to look a bit deeper in terms of where we thought would be the best place for him to be.”
Blundell added he expected an announcement regarding Paffett's 2007 activities to be made public in the next few days.
