Preining Charges to Victory in Sunday Race at Red Bull Ring

Thomas Preining charged from seventh on the grid to take his second DTM victory during Sunday’s race at the Red Bull Ring.

The No. 24 KÜS Team Bernhard Porsche 911 GT3 R finished 4.6 seconds clear of Luca Stolz’s No. 4 Mercedes-AMG Team HRT Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo.

It was Preining’s second victory of the season, having taken victory number one at the Norisring earlier in the year.

After a difficult start, the Austrian began working his way forward by passing the likes of Maximilian Goetz and Philipp Eng to move into third when other cars began to make their mandatory stops.

After second-placed Nick Cassidy pitted, a rapid Preining closed in on pole sitter Maro Engel and passed his No. 88 GruppeM Mercedes at turn nine before rapidly opening up a gap.

He maintained his advantage throughout the stops, pitting for a second set of wets before going on to victory.

Stolz finished second, being one of the first drivers to pit and charging up from outside the top ten to claim his fourth podium finish of the year.

Engel, who pitted at the last available opportunity to also switch from wets to slicks, charged back up in the closing laps by passing Rene Rast, Dennis Olsen and Eng in quick succession to secure the final podium spot.

Rast, Olsen and Eng were some of the drivers to gamble on wet tires for their second stint and struggled greatly in the closing minutes of the race. Only Eng managed to finish in the top ten, behind Arjun Maini but ahead of Lucas Auer and Maximilian Goetz.

Nico Mueller finished ninth ahead of Mirko Bortolotti, with Olsen dropping from fourth to tenth with Rast eleventh.

Sheldon van der Linde saw his championship lead shrink further by failing to score points for a second consecutive race.

The No. 31 Schubert Motorsport BMW M4 Gt3 started in the midfield due to a grid penalty but was last by the end of the first lap, having run wide and spun at turn 3.

He finished ahead of the Walkenhorst Motorsport pairing of Marco Wittmann and Leon Koehler, with Maximilian Buhk rounding out the top fifteen.

RESULTS: Race 2