London born Gary Paffett, who secured the prestigious DTM Championship title at the weekend, will test for the McLaren F1 team later this year.

Writing on his website, Paffett said: "I can savour the achievement of winning the championship and look forward to the test, because it is a step in the right direction to Formula 1, which is where I want to be eventually.

However, the 24-year-old isn't getting carried away, and knows that an F1 race seat is out of the question at this time. "Let's see what happens," he said. "At the moment, it looks like I'll be defending my title in the DTM, because there are no race seats available in F1 next year. That in itself will be a massive challenge for myself and the team, who I have to thank for giving me such a fantastic car this year."

After revealing that Paffett will test fro McLaren later this year, Mercedes' Motorsport director, Norbert Haug, said: "Gary showed his class, he is the man of the year. He deserves the title in what was a challenging and demanding year."

The Londoner previously tested for McLaren in 2002 and 2003.