Paffett aims to reach Q3

The former champion has returned to the series after spending a year as a test driver for the McLaren-Mercedes Formula One team, but he is not in one of the brand new C-Class machines.

"My aim is to make the final qualifying session," Paffett told autosport.com. "That would be a good result."

The British driver believes that the older cars in the field will have their best chance of good results in the early part of the season, while the newer cars are still under-developed.

"The early stage of the season is when we can spring a surprise of two," he said. "Later in the year the newer cars will be more developed, and it will get harder for us."

Paffett finished Friday's practice session with the 11th fastest time, but he feels that his team will continue to make progress over the course of the weekend.

"So far we have found a lot of things that don't work, so we are narrowing it down," he said. "Hopefully tomorrow we will start to find more things that do work."