With only two victories this year compared to the nine of Mercedes, Audi struggled to handle the new tyres of Dunlop.
Gary Paffett was part of a three-way Mercedes title scrap with Paul di Resta and Bruno Spengler this year, but the McLaren reserve driver does not expect his HWA team to have such an easy time of things next year.
He says to Autosport: "This year was a different fight to what we are used to, and a different fight to what we're going to have next year. Audi will be back up there again."
Hankook is set to replace Dunlop as the DTM control tyre supplier for next year, and Gary Paffett believes that will put all the teams back to square one.
"Next year it will be a level playing field again. The tyres are changing again so we need to get a handle on them as quick as we can. We don't know exactly what the tyres will be like yet, but it will be interesting to see what we get. It's going to be another interesting year, and I'm sure the cars (Mercedes and Audi) are going to be close."
Gary Paffett was part of a three-way Mercedes title scrap with Paul di Resta and Bruno Spengler this year, but the McLaren reserve driver does not expect his HWA team to have such an easy time of things next year.
He says to Autosport: "This year was a different fight to what we are used to, and a different fight to what we're going to have next year. Audi will be back up there again."
Hankook is set to replace Dunlop as the DTM control tyre supplier for next year, and Gary Paffett believes that will put all the teams back to square one.
"Next year it will be a level playing field again. The tyres are changing again so we need to get a handle on them as quick as we can. We don't know exactly what the tyres will be like yet, but it will be interesting to see what we get. It's going to be another interesting year, and I'm sure the cars (Mercedes and Audi) are going to be close."