OSCHERLEBEN, Germany — Thomas Preining (A/Manthey) has been sweeping up all the wins so far in Oschersleben.
After setting the fastest time in free practice and securing pole position in qualifying, the 28-year-old crowned a dominant performance on Saturday with his first DTM victory at the Börde circuit.
Driving his Porsche 911 GT3 R, Preining set the pace from the very first lap in the ninth championship race and maintained his lead comfortably to the finish.
“We want to fight for the title, so this win was incredibly important for us. Our strategy worked perfectly. The timing of the pit stop is crucial in Oschersleben because you can quickly get caught up in lapped traffic on this narrow track. In the final stages, Luca Engstler was closing in on me, so I needed to be extremely focused,” said the Austrian after his ninth DTM victory overall.
Luca Engstler (Kempten/Red Bull Team Abt) finished second, 1.601 seconds behind the winner. This marked the Lamborghini driver’s first podium finish of the season. Maro Engel (Monaco/Mercedes-AMG Team Ravenol) came in third, taking over the lead in the DTM standings.
Preining, starting from pole position, controlled the race from the outset on the 3.667-kilometer circuit near Magdeburg. Behind the Porsche factory driver, Engel, after a strong start, overtook Engstler to take second place. Lucas Auer (A/Mercedes-AMG Team Landgraf) and Ben Dörr (Butzbach/Dörr Motorsport) followed in fourth and fifth positions, respectively.
However, the McLaren driver retired shortly afterward following a collision. His position was taken over by Mirko Bortolotti (I/TGI Team by GRT) in the Lamborghini Temerario GT3.
By his mandatory pit stop on lap 21, Preining had built up a lead of around two seconds and, after a flawless tire change, rejoined the race in the lead.
Engel pitted at the same time but lost valuable seconds in the pits. Engstler, who had fitted new Pirelli slicks a lap earlier, capitalized on this: The 26-year-old overtook the Mercedes-AMG driver with his already warmed-up tires.
The driver from Kempten then closed the gap to the leader, Preining, but couldn’t threaten him. Bortolotti also closed the gap to Auer, who was in fourth place ahead of him, in the final third of the race, but couldn’t get within striking distance to launch a decisive attack.
After 40 laps, Preining was flagged the winner, becoming the third DTM driver to win two races this season. Behind Engstler and Engel, Auer and Bortolotti finished fourth and fifth, respectively.
Arjun Maini (HRT Ford Racing) staged a remarkable comeback, improving his position by six places to finish sixth in his Ford Mustang GT3. Kelvin van der Linde (ZA) made up an impressive eight places in his BMW M4 GT3 Evo, securing seventh place in his team Schubert Motorsport’s home race.
Timo Glock (Kreuzlingen/Dörr Motorsport), who has often struggled this season, returned to the top ten with an eighth-place finish in his McLaren 720S GT3 Evo. The best-placed Ferrari driver was Thierry Vermeulen (NL/Emil Frey Racing) in ninth. Ricardo Feller (CH) piloted the second Manthey Porsche 911 GT3 R to 10th place.
