Gary Paffett: DTM rivals won't show their hands in testing

Speaking at the AUTOSPORT International Show, the HWA Mercedes driver said that BMW's return to the series - and a raft of rule changes - have made the pre-season form book far harder to read.

Paffett predicted that all three manufacturers would be sandbagging in various ways in order to avoid revealing their hands too early in the season.

He also said it was hard for Mercedes to know where it was, as the new chassis and spec components meant comparing data to last year was almost impossible.

"Everybody sandbags a bit, and it is difficult to know how much," he explained. "It's very difficult to read anything into lap times - and I think it will continue to be difficult for the next few tests.

"The two ITR tests, at Valencia and Hockenheim, will be the first indication of where we are - before then everyone will be sandbagging to different extents.

"So far BMW has insisted a lot of testing is done with all three manufacturers present, so we have been able to see the cars on track and their lap times, and it's still very difficult to get a clear picture.

"In addition the differences in downforce, tyres and weight mean we can't really overlay where we were last year, so we don't know where we need to be. It's difficult really.

"The car has a pretty good balance and that's what we can work with, but beyond that it's difficult to know where you are because we don't have any previous data. It's a bit like F1 really, you build your car as best you can and then hope it's on the pace."

With cars set to be homologated on 1 March - after which major changes will be extremely limited - Paffett also said getting it right first time would be of paramount importance.

"The cars are homologated on March 1 so if it's not great then, it is going to be difficult - very difficult - to improve it this year.

"It's going to be very important to get it right from the start, as it's difficult to make major changes after homologation."