Mercedes Report - Paffett extends contract beyond 2012

• Gary Paffett will remain a Mercedes-Benz driver for 2012 and beyond
• Gary is the most successful active driver in the DTM with 17 wins from?73 starts
• He has finished on the podium in more than one third of his DTM races
• The 2012 DTM season will be Gary Paffett's ninth with Mercedes-Benz

Gary Paffett, the most successful active driver in the DTM, will remain a Mercedes-Benz driver for the long term after agreeing a new contract extension with the three-pointed star.

Gary Paffett, Team HWA AMG Mercedes, AMG Mercedes C-Klasse

Photo by: xpb.cc

Since 2003, Mercedes-Benz and Gary Paffett have achieved significant milestones together. In 2005, Paffett became the first British driver ever to win the DTM championship at the wheel of the AMG Mercedes C-Class, taking five wins from 11 races. The following year, with the support of Mercedes-Benz, he was promoted to the role of McLaren-Mercedes F1 test driver, before returning to the DTM for 2007. In that season, he became the first driver in series history to win a race with a year-old car, at Oschersleben.

Gary Paffett has now scored a total of 17 wins from 73 starts, a winning record of more than every one in five races, and has taken podium finishes in more than one in three of the races he has started in the DTM (25 podiums in total, or 34% of his DTM races).

Gary Paffett:

"I am delighted to continue my relationship with Mercedes-Benz for the long term - we have worked together for a long time, enjoyed a lot of success and I feel a big part of this successful racing family. Thank you to Norbert and Gerhard Ungar for putting their faith in me and to my management, Mark Blundell and 2MB, for their hard work to make it happen.

Next year, the DTM will enter a new era and the competition will be even tougher. It's a big challenge to try and make our future as successful as we have been in the past - and I am sure experience and continuity will play a big role in achieving that. I'm very excited to be part of this new era of the DTM and the fact that I now have a long-term contract in place with Mercedes gives me a solid basis on which to perform even better."

Norbert Haug, Vice President, Mercedes-Benz Motorsport:

"Gary is a vital part of our very successful history in the DTM. He is a racer in the purest form: straight and tough but always fair. On behalf of Mercedes-Benz, I would like to thank Gary for all his hard work and the success he has had until now. This new contract will take us into a second decade together, and we will work hard to ensure it will be just as successful as our first - or even better."

-source: Gary Paffett website