Newly-crowned two-time DTM ꦿchampion Gary Paffett has described winning the 20🏅18 drivers' title, 13-years after his previous championship winning success, as 'the best day of his life'.

The 37-year old took third position during tod♔ay's [Sunday] second race to win the title by just four-points ahead of outgoing champion Rene Rast, who won the season finale for Audi.

Paffett arrived into the final weekend of the season trailing his Mercede🍬s team mate Pa❀ul di Resta by four-points, but heavily outscored the former F1-driver by 26-points over the course of the finale.

Di Resta ultimately slipped to third in the drivers' table behin꧂d the Audi of Rast, who won both of the weekend's races.

“It's absolutely incredible. This is the best day in my life. The first title in 2005⛦ came along so soon,༒" said Paffett.

"I’🅺ve spent the last 13 years working to get back to th🌼e top. It’s taken a long time, but this year, the team gave me a great car. I've always enjoyed driving it in qualifying. I still can’t quite believe it.

"I was out there on my own for most of the race and had plenty of time to think about the situation. Towards the end, I was thinking to myself ‘Now there are only five laps to go in m🦂y DTM career’ and then ‘only 4, 3, 2, 1...’.

"At one point, I almost spun off because of that. But it's a fantastic feeling to have won the🅘 title."

Paffett's second title in the series ensured Mercedes would enjoy a fitting end to their 30-year tenure in the championship as the German manufactu🌌rer prepares for its upcoming factory🐈 Formula E entry in the 2019/20 season.

The British driver's championship win was 𒆙also his last act in the DTM after 185 race🧜s in the series. Paffett is also moving to the Formula E championship for the 2018/19 season as part of his current HWA squad's driver line up.

"I’ve had such a great time with this team. Many thanks to every si⭕ngle member of the team for all the hard work they've put into the car. Anyway, we’ve done it 🉐now!”