Paffett to become McLaren regular

Gary Paffett may become a regular at McLaren test sessions in 2006. The DTM champion and Briton, who helped Alex Wurz kick off the Woking based team's winter program by running at Barcelona on Monday, will return to the wheel on Tuesday before traveling south to Jerez for the next test.

And Mercedes-Benz's competition director Norbert Haug agreed that 24-year-old Paffett is not testing merely 'as a reward' for his DTM crown.

''Gary is also integrated into our development program for the new season,'' the German explained.

In sunny but chilly Spain on Monday, Paffett – in one of the two V8-powered 2005 cars – managed to pip Wurz's best time, even if the latter Austrian grappled with transmission and hydraulics issues.

It was Gary's first F1 test for more than two years.

''The difference between the DTM and the F1 car is not as big as it was between the F3 and the F1 car three years ago,'' Paffett said on Monday.

The only other man on track, BMW-Sauber's Nick Heidfeld, also tested a V8 and lapped eight tenths of a second slower.