Preining Sets Up Title Showdown with Hockenheim Race 1 Win

Thomas Preining ignited his quest to become a two-time DTM champion by winning Hockenheim Race 1, closing the gap to championship leader Lucas Auer to just three points heading into the final race.

The Austrian dominated a race that was delayed twice due to heavy rainfall, taking the lead before the pitstop window and then opening up a gap of 16.889 seconds over Ricardo Feller at the finish.

Feller finished second in the No. 29 Land Motorsport Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II, narrowly beating the No. 92 Manthey Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R of Morris Schuring.

Schuring took his maiden DTM podium mastering the changing conditions, having started the race from fifth position.

Feller and Schuring both fought their way past Emil Frey Racing driver Jack Aitken in the closing stages, as the Swiss squad’s decision to pit early backfired on a drying track.

Aitken led early on after passing stablemate and polesitter Ben Green before on the first lap, but then attempted an undercut after being overtaken by Preining approaching the pit window.

When Aitken rejoined the track, he had a deficit of 8.5 seconds to Preining, a gap that would only grow as the No. 14 Emil Frey Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 was rapidly caught by chasing cars.

In addition to Feller and Schuring, Aitken was also overtaken by the No. 24 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Maro Engel and the No. 90 Manthey Porsche piloted by Ayhancan Guven.

Aitken eventually came home in sixth, ahead of Rene Rast, Nicki Thiim, Luca Engstler and Green.

Preining’s victory means the championship standings for Sunday’s deciding race are extremely tight with the top seven drivers separated by just 13 points.

Auer has retained the lead with 175 points, while Preining has moved up to second place with just three points less. Rast and Engel are six and seven points off the lead, respectively, followed by Guven, Jordan Pepper and Aitken.

Pepper entered the race second in the standings but suffered a major setback in the opening stages, spinning into retirement after contact with Ben Doerr.