Gary Paffett

Gary Paffett
Paffett as a test driver of McLaren in 2006.
Nationality	British
Born	(1981-03-24) 24 March 1981 (age 35) Bromley, Greater London, England
DTM career
Debut season	2003
Current team	Mercedes-Benz DTM Team ART
Car no.	2
Former teams	Team Rosberg, Persson Motorsport, HWA Team
Starts	148
Wins	20
Poles	12
Fastest laps	8
Best finish	1st in 2005
Finished last season	11th (73 pts)
Previous series
2005–12 2003 2001–02 2000 1998 1998–99 1997	Formula One testing International Formula 3000 German F3 British F3 FPA Winter Series Formula Vauxhall Junior FVauxhall Junior W. Series
Championship titles
2005 2002 2000 1999 1998 1997	DTM German F3 British F3 National Class Formula Vauxhall Junior FVauxhall Junior Class B FVauxhall Junior W. Series
Awards
1999	McLaren Autosport Award

Gary Paffett (born 24 March 1981 in Bromley) is a British racing driver in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters. He is also a test driver for the Williams Formula One team, having previously worked in a similar role at McLaren. Paffett progressed through the ranks of karting and junior formulae in the United Kingdom, winning the McLaren Autosport BRDC Award in 1999. He now lives in Ousden, Suffolk, England.

In 1993, Paffett joined the British Cadet Championships and earned himself a respectable third place. A year later he moved to British Junior TKM Championship and finished second overall. In 1995, he won the British Junior TKM Championship and also second place in the Junior ICA European Championship. Successes continued into 1996, winning the McLaren Mercedes Karting Champion of the Future award and also second in the British Junior ICA Championship. The next year he moved into single-seaters, winning the Formula Vauxhall Junior Winter Series, picking up the best newcomer's award in that series in the process. In 1998, he was Formula Vauxhall Junior Class B Champion with thirteen fastest laps, thirteen poles and thirteen wins, dominating every race of the season. He also set a track record which had never before been set by any "B" class car. He got promoted to the Formula Vauxhall Junior and won the championship with two track records, four wins, five fastest laps, three pole positions. At the season's end he was awarded the prestigious McLaren Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year award.

Moving up to Formula Three, he competed in the Scholarship class of the British F3 championship, becoming champion with thirteen wins, thirteen fastest laps and thirteen pole positions. In 2001, moved overseas to the German F3 Championship racing with Keke Rosberg's race team, finishing sixth overall. Remaining in the series for 2002, he dominated the field winning the championship without ever losing the lead.

For 2003, Gary signed to drive for the new Brand Motorsport team in F3000, but the team withdrew from the series leaving Paffett and his team-mate Nicolas Minassian without drives. Mercedes contacted him and signed him to drive in the DTM with Rosberg's Mercedes AMG team in a year-old car, eventually finishing 11th overall. A year later, he was runner up with an up-to-date AMG-Mercedes C-Class and the HWA team taking four wins and one pole position. He was then champion the following year with five wins and four pole positions. In 2007, Gary returned to the DTM in a 2006 specification race car for the Persson Motorsport team alongside his McLaren F1 testing duties. At the second round at Oschersleben, Paffett became the first driver in the history of the series to win in a year old car. After a further year in older machinery, he was promoted back to the current Mercedes model for 2009, and finished runner-up in the championship, behind Timo Scheider.