Thomas Preining (A/Manthey EMA) clinched his third DTM victory at the Norisring on Sunday after a strong performance.
The Porsche works driver applied pressure from the start and, after some spectacular overtaking maneuvers, rewarded himself with his first win of the season.
After second place in Saturday’s race, the 2023 champion moved up to second in the overall standings.
“We want to fight for the title; that has been our clear goal since the first race. With this win, we made an impressive comeback after a bumpy start to the season and showed that we’re made of the right stuff. Jack Aitken didn’t give me anything; our duel was great entertainment for the many fans,” explained Preining.
Jack Aitken (GB/Emil Frey Racing) crossed the finish line in second place in his Ferrari 296 GT3, just under 1.6 seconds behind the field. Teammate Thierry Vermeulen (NL) finished third in a turbulent race and received his trophy from eight-time World Rally Champion Sébastien Ogier.
Preining made up three places at the start of the eighth championship race on Sunday afternoon at the Norisring, securing third place behind polesitter Vermeulen and Aitken.
The race had to be red-flagged on the first lap due to a collision between several cars at the rear of the field. The restart took place around half an hour later, with Arjun Maini (IND/HRT Ford Performance) in the Ford Mustang GT3 and Ben Green (GB) in the third Ferrari from Emil Frey Racing following behind the top trio in fourth and fifth places, respectively.
After the first mandatory pit stop, Vermeulen, who had changed his Pirelli slicks earlier than his two rivals at the front, dropped back to third place. The leading duo of Aitken and Preining then engaged in a spectacular duel.
However, the Briton was initially able to fend off all attacks. The second tire change brought the deciding factor: Preining was quickly dispatched by his team, shortly afterwards overtook Aitken, who was just ahead of him, and was crowned the winner after 64 laps.
Behind Aitken and Vermeulen, Mercedes-AMG driver Maro Engel (Monaco/Mercedes-AMG Team Winward Racing) finished fourth ahead of Maini after a tactically clever performance. The Indian thus secured the best DTM result for the new Ford Mustang GT3.
Green achieved his best result of the season in sixth place, followed by René Rast (Bregenz/Schubert Motorsport) in seventh place in his BMW M4 GT3 Evo. Lucas Auer (A/Mercedes-AMG Team Landgraf) gained six places in his Mercedes-AMG GT3 after a strong recovery and, with eighth place, maintained his lead in the drivers’ standings ahead of his compatriot Preining.
Saturday’s winner, Jordan Pepper (ZA/TGI Team Lamborghini by GRT) could only manage ninth place in his Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo2 and is third in the overall standings after the first half of the season. Jules Gounon (F) from the Mercedes-AMG Team Mann-Filter secured 10th place.
