Thomas Preining finished second and fifth at the sixth of eight DTM weekends, keeping him close to the top of the drivers' standings. The Austrian Porsche Works driver even momentarily retook the championship lead on Saturday. Third-place finisher Ayhancan Güven completed Porsche's double podium. Four 911 GT3 R vehicles had to exit the race on Sunday due to incidents with other participants. Manthey EMA is still in contention to win the team championship despite Porsche continuing to hold a four-point lead in the manufacturer's standings.
Thomas Preining still has a good chance of winning the DTM drivers' championship with a fifth-place result in Sunday's race at the Sachsenring. The Austrian works driver is in second place overall after 12 of the season's 16 races, ten points behind the leader. The race on the rollercoaster racetrack, which was watched by 42,000 spectators, developed into an exciting performance. The Porsche 911 GT3 R cars driven by Marvin Dienst (Toksport WRT), Dennis Olsen (Manthey EMA), Lauren Heinrich, and Ayhancan Güven (all of Team75 Motorsport) were among the nine of the 27 GT3 race cars that started the race but did not cross the finish line. As a result of collisions that none of the four were at fault for shortly following the start, they were forced to stop racing. Only one other Porsche driver, Tim Heinemann (Toksport WRT), finished the race and earned points for 14th place, in addition to Manthey EMA driver Preining.
Sebastian Golz, Project Manager 911 GT3 R, sums up the weekend from Porsche's perspective: "After a very successful first day, in which two of our drivers, Thomas Preining and Ayhancan Güven, finished on the podium, Sunday turned into a day of mixed fortunes for us. " We struggled in qualifying to have a good grip on all six cars. We still need to figure out exactly what the issue was. The Porsche 911 GT3 R cars returned to normal during the race. Sadly, the collisions at the beginning cost us three vehicles in one go, and the fourth one occurred about halfway through the race. However, we are in a strong position in each of the three championship standings and are really motivated as we prepare to travel to the Red Bull Ring for the upcoming race weekend.
Golz, Sebastian
Preining temporarily regains overall lead on Saturday
Preining first succeeded in regaining the championship lead he had previously lost at the Lausitzring by placing second in the race on Saturday. Due to a faster pit stop, the Austrian Manthey EMA driver passed Ayhancan Güven after starting from P3 on the grid. The Turkish Team75 Motorsport driver successfully defended third place after that, earning his maiden podium finish in the DTM.
For the eighth time in eleven races, Dennis Olson in the Manthey EMA "Greeno" finished seventh and earned points. With Marvin Dienst of Toksport WRT earning one point for 15th, Laurin Heinrich of Team75 Motorsport scored four championship points for 12th place. Tim Heinemann, a teammate who placed one position behind him, just missed earning points.
Thomas Preining
Comments from the race weekend at the Sachsenring
Thomas Preining (Manthey EMA, Porsche 911 GT3 R #91): “Overall, it was a very positive weekend. We reached the top three in both free practice sessions on Friday, and we were able to translate this pace well on Saturday. With an excellent strategy and a very good pit stop, I managed to secure second place. Overnight, however, our competitors obviously made advancements that we couldn’t keep up with, so I only started from position eleven on Sunday. Fortunately, I survived the confusion after the start without any damage. After that, our strategy and the absolute fastest pit stop helped to finish in fifth place. In the context of the championship, these are important points.”
Ayhancan Güven (Team75 Motorsport, Porsche 911 GT3 R #24): “Everything went very well for us on Saturday. Because we worked flawlessly as a team, I was able to finish on the podium. The first podium of my DTM career means a great deal to me. On Sunday, I was surrounded by chaos right after the start. I took a slight hit but managed to prevent anything worse by taking a detour through the gravel. After the restart, I barely made up any ground. To avoid indirect damage, we favoured retiring the car.”
Tim Heinemann (Toksport WRT, Porsche 911 GT3 R #9): “We can be happy with the race on Sunday and the weekend as a whole. We got the maximum out of 18th place on the grid and I was able to score two points. A big thank you to my team, who put a fantastic car on the track for me.”
Results
Result race 11: 1. Luca Stolz (D), Mercedes-AMG GT3 #4, 45 laps 2. Thomas Preining (A), Porsche 911 GT3 R #91, +2.688 seconds 3. Ayhancan Güven (TR), Porsche 911 GT3 R #24, +3.630 seconds 7. Dennis Olsen (N), Porsche 911 GT3 R #90, +16.679 seconds 12. Laurin Heinrich (D), Porsche 911 GT3 R #75, +29.549 seconds 15. Marvin Dienst (D), Porsche 911 GT3 R #99, +36.026 seconds 16. Tim Heinemann (D), Porsche 911 GT3 R #9, +36.640 seconds
Result race 12: 1. Mirko Bortolotti (I), Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO 2 #92, 46 laps 2. Luca Stolz (D), Mercedes-AMG GT3 #4, +1.541 seconds 3. Ricardo Feller (CH), Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II #7, +2.168 seconds 5. Thomas Preining (A), Porsche 911 GT3 R #91, +4.744 seconds 14. Tim Heinemann (D), Porsche 911 GT3 R #9, +26.906 seconds DNF Ayhancan Güven (TR), Porsche 911 GT3 R #24, +29 laps DNF Dennis Olsen (N), Porsche 911 GT3 R #90, +44 laps DNF Marvin Dienst (D), Porsche 911 GT3 R #99, +46 laps DNF Laurin Heinrich (D), Porsche 911 GT3 R #75, +46 laps
Drivers’ standings after 12 of 16 races: 1. Mirko Bortolotti (I/SSR Performance/Lamborghini), 173 points 2. Thomas Preining (A/Manthey EMA/Porsche), 162 points 3. Ricardo Feller (CH/Team Abt Sportsline/Audi), 148 points 7. Dennis Olsen (N/Manthey EMA/Porsche), 87 points 14. Laurin Heinrich (D/Team75 Motorsport/Porsche), 55 points 15. Tim Heinemann (D/Toksport WRT/Porsche), 50 points 16. Ayhancan Güven (TR/ Team75 Motorsport/Porsche), 50 points 18. Christian Engelhart (D/Toksport WRT/Porsche), 36 points 29. Marvin Dienst (D/Toksport WRT/Porsche), 5 points
Team standings after 12 of 16 races: 1. SSR Performance (Lamborghini), 242 points 2. Manthey EMA (Porsche), 238 points 3. ABT Sportsline (Audi), 220 points 9. Team75 Motorsport (Porsche), 102 points 10. Toksport WRT (Porsche), 89 points
Manufacturer standings after 12 of 16 races: 1. Porsche, 323 points 2. Lamborghini, 310 points 3. Mercedes-AMG, 296 points 4. Audi, 256 points 5. BMW, 250 points 6. Ferrari, 148 points