Gary Paffett was left relatively pleased with fifth place at Norisring after a lengthy second pit stop ended his hopes of finishing on the podium.

The Mercedes-Benz driver came into the third stop on the DTM calendar in good form having won the previous race at the EuroSpeedway.

Paffett qualified in fifth spot in his AMG Mercedes C-Class at Norisring but failed to make any significant progress during the 80 laps as he looked to build on prior successes at the circuit in both 2004 and 2005.

He said afterwards: “What a tough race. I drove consistently in fourth place; however, due to the lengthy second pit stop I lost this position.

“All drivers were very close together today, so I’m still satisfied to have scored four points.”

The result sees Paffett fall a further point away from top spot in the overall DTM standings, with him now being three points off the lead.

Mercedes-Benz teammate Jamie Green won the race, ensuring that the manufacturer was victorious at the circuit for the seventh straight year.

View the road-going [C-Class models], the underpinnings of the DTM cars.