HOCKENHEIM, Germany — Thomas Preining (A/Manthey EMA) won the penultimate championship race on Saturday with a lead of almost 17 seconds.
This catapulted the Porsche driver from eighth to second place in the standings and gives him a good chance of becoming DTM champion again on Sunday after his 2023 debut.
“A fantastic day for us! The win puts me right back in the fight for the title, and this is exactly the starting position we’ve been working towards. But the job isn’t done yet. We want to be champions and need another top result on Sunday,” explained Preining, who thus secured Manthey EMA the early win in the team classification. Second place went to Ricardo Feller (CH/Land-Motorsport) in the Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo2. Rookie Morris Schuring (NL/Manthey Junior Team) finished third, making it onto the podium for the first time in his DTM career. Championship leader Lucas Auer (A/Mercedes-AMG Team Landgraf) attempted damage limitation.
The Austrian gained five places and defended his lead in twelfth place with 175 points, ahead of Preining (172). This means Sunday’s race promises to be the ultimate showdown: eight drivers still have a chance at the championship trophy.
At the start of the penultimate championship race at the Hockenheimring, heavy rain made conditions difficult. Pole-sitter Ben Green (GB/Emil Frey Racing) lost the lead to his teammate Jack Aitken (GB) on the first lap after a braking error, and shortly afterwards, he also had to let Preining overtake him.
The Austrian then fully exploited his strengths and those of his 911 on the wet track, taking the lead after a skillful overtaking maneuver on lap eight and pulling away from the opposition with fast lap times.
Feller and Schuring also overtook Green, who continued to fall back. The race was also unfortunate for Jordan Pepper (ZA/TGI Team Lamborghini by GRT): The Lamborghini driver retired on lap four after contact with another car, but remains in contention for the title in sixth place.
Preining was the last driver to make the mandatory pit stop and returned to the track with a lead of around ten seconds over Aitken. The 27-year-old remained dominant at the front in the final stages and crossed the finish line first after 32 laps.
Aitken, on the other hand, was unable to keep up with the pace at the front after the tire change and had to let several competitors pass. In the end, the order behind Preining was: Feller, Schuring, Maro Engel (Monaco/Mercedes-AMG Team Winward Racing), Ayhancan Güven (TR/Manthey EMA), and Aitken.
The duel between Schuring and Feller was particularly spectacular: On the final lap, the Porsche youngster attacked the Swiss, but he defended second place by a razor-thin margin of 0.11 seconds.
Behind sixth-placed Aitken, René Rast (Bregenz/Schubert Motorsport) finished seventh in the BMW M4 GT3 Evo. This puts the three-time DTM champion firmly in third place in the overall standings. Nicki Thiim (DK/Abt Sportsline) secured eighth place after a strong performance in the Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo2, while fellow Lamborghini driver Luca Engstler (Kempten/TGI Team Lamborghini by GRT) finished ninth. Green completed the top 10.
