KLETTWITZ, Germany — Fast, composed and flawless – Porsche driver Thomas Preining clinched his first DTM victory of the season on Sunday at the Lausitzring.
The defending champion from Manthey EMA struck ice-cold at the decisive moment and secured his sixth DTM victory with two strong overtaking maneuvers.
“That was one of the best DTM races I have ever experienced as a driver. Our strategy with an early pit stop was crucial for the win. After the tire change, I couldn’t take the lead straight away, but I was able to get myself into a good position. I attacked straight away and took a bit of a risk. That’s racing in the DTM,” analyzed Preining, who moved up to second place in the overall standings.
Kelvin van der Linde came second, 1.44 seconds behind, and thus extended his lead in the table.
Teammate Ricardo Feller finished the fourth race of the season in third place — the Audi driver holds the same position in the overall standings. 45,500 visitors experienced two very different races at the Lausitzring.
While Saturday’s race had to be interrupted several times due to torrential rain, there were many battles for position and tough wheel-to-wheel duels on Sunday in dry conditions.
At the start of the fourth DTM race of the season on Sunday afternoon, pole-setter Preining initially maintained the lead ahead of Feller and Kelvin van der Linde, who was able to overtake Mirko Bortolotti (I/SSR Performance) in the Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo2. The increasingly faster Audi driver Feller managed to overtake Preining on the fourth lap and take the lead of the field.
After a safety car phase and the subsequent restart, the Swiss driver was able to extend his lead to almost a second.
After the mandatory pit stops, it was Preining’s turn. The Austrian was the first driver in the field to get new Pirelli tires and quickly got them into the optimal temperature window.
This meant that Preining first overtook Feller and shortly thereafter Kelvin van der Linde, who were unable to stop the Porsche factory driver due to later stops on colder tires. Feller also pushed past van der Linde after making contact with his car, but the race management ordered a place swap due to the contact.
Regardless of this, Preining controlled the action at the front and crossed the finish line first after 42 laps, ahead of Kelvin van der Linde and Feller. Bortolotti followed in fourth place, with fifth place going to his brand colleague Luca Engstler (Kempten/Lamborghini Team Liqui Moly by GRT).
René Rast from Schubert Motorsport was the best BMW driver, finishing sixth. Maro Engel from the Mercedes-AMG Team Winward once again shone with a brilliant strategy and was able to fight his way up from 20th place on the grid to seventh place thanks to a very late pit stop.
Rast’s teammates Sheldon van der Linde and Marco Wittmann followed in eighth and ninth place in the BMW M4 GT3. Lucas Auer finished the fourth race of the DTM season at the Lausitzring in 10th place in the Mercedes-AMG GT3.
All DTM events are broadcast live on SPEED SPORT 1.