Gary Paffett slams Martin Tomczyk after Hockenheim DTM accident

Mercedes' Gary Paffett has slammed Martin Tomczyk after an error by the BMW driver ended his race in the Hockenheim DTM season opener.

Paffett started from the back of the grid thanks to a post-session sensor change in parc ferme and was 12th on lap 15 when he was collected by Tomcyk, who lost the rear of his car under braking for the hairpin.

The impact eliminated Paffett and also led to his ART Grand Prix team-mate, Lucas Auer, retiring after collecting the stranded Tomczyk.

In the immediate aftermath, Paffett called it a "stupid, stupid move", and his frustration hadn't subsided two hours later.

"It's probably worse. I've watched the video a few more times and it's pretty clear to me," he told AUTOSPORT.

"Looking at the footage, what I expected from experience was that he'd locked a front wheel and had gone into me, but the fact is that he was completely out of control - he was sideways before he hit me.

"It just surprises me how a professional driver can get into that much of a bad state in a braking area.

"He's been driving that car for half an hour in the race already, he's been driving that car all weekend, he knows what it does.

"And then he says 'oh, I was a passenger, as soon as I hit the brakes the wheels locked and I had no control'...

"It's not really acceptable to say 'it's not my fault'. He was the only one driving the car, he was the one pushing the pedal.

"It's just a stupid thing to do, it really is."

Stewards reviewed the incident but did not take any action against Tomczyk.

"Martin said in the debrief that he had a really strong car under braking, that he could easily brake later and deeper than any [other] BMW," said BMW motorsport boss Jens Marquardt.

"He felt that the restart was his chance to dive in, but on that occasion, due to maye not having fully-warmed brakes, he locked immediately the rears and that was it."

SHUNT ADDS TO TOUGH START FOR ART

ART's problems started on the Friday of its debut DTM outing, when Auer missed all of practice with a transmission problem.

But Paffett believes he could have claimed a top-10 finish had Tomczyk not hit him.

"I definitely had a chance of scoring points, Lucas was close behind, so you never know," said Paffett.

"If you've both got a chance to score points, that represents a fantastic end to what had been a tough day.

"As it happens, the same guy has taken both of our cars out."