With a second and a fifth place at the sixth of eight DTM weekends, Thomas Preining remains within striking distance of the top of the drivers’ championship. On Saturday, the Porsche works driver from Austria even briefly reclaimed the championship lead. Ayhancan Güven finished third and rounded off the double podium for Porsche. In Sunday’s race, four 911 GT3 R cars had to retire early following collisions caused by other competitors. While Porsche continues to lead the manufacturer’s championship, Manthey EMA lies just four points behind in second place and still has a chance to claim the team title.

With a fifth-place finish in Sunday’s race at the Sachsenring, Thomas Preining still has a good chance of winning the DTM drivers’ championship. After 12 of 16 rounds this season, the Austrian works driver lies second in the standings, ten points shy of the leader. Witnessed by 42,000 spectators, the race on the rollercoaster racetrack turned into a nail-biting show. Nine of the 27 GT3 race cars that started the race failed to reach the finish line – including the Porsche 911 GT3 R cars driven by Marvin Dienst (Toksport WRT), Dennis Olsen (Manthey EMA) as well as Lauren Heinrich and Ayhancan Güven (both Team75 Motorsport). All four were involved in collisions through no fault of their own immediately after the start and had to retire early. Aside from Manthey EMA driver Preining, only one other Porsche driver, Tim Heinemann (Toksport WRT), finished the race and scored points for 14th place.

“After a very successful first day, which saw two of our drivers – Thomas Preining and Ayhancan Güven – finish on the podium, Sunday turned into a day of mixed fortunes for us,” says Sebastian Golz, Project Manager 911 GT3 R, summing up the weekend from Porsche’s perspective. “In qualifying, we had problems finding decent grip with all six cars. We still have to analyse exactly what the problem was. In the race, the Porsche 911 GT3 R cars were back to normal. Unfortunately, the incidents right at the start cost us three cars in one fell swoop, the fourth happened almost halfway through the race – that hurt. But we’re still in a good position in all three championship rankings and remain highly motivated as we head to the Red Bull Ring for the next race weekend.”

Preining temporarily regains overall lead on Saturday
Finishing Saturday’s race in second, Preining initially managed to regain the championship lead which he lost at the Lausitzring. Starting from P3 on the grid, the Austrian Manthey EMA driver overtook his brand colleague Ayhancan Güven thanks to a quicker mandatory pit stop. The Turkish Team75 Motorsport driver was then able to defend third place without any problems, thus securing the first podium finish of his DTM career.

Dennis Olson in the Manthey EMA “Greeno” finished seventh and scored points for the ninth time in eleven races. Laurin Heinrich (Team75 Motorsport) collected four championship points in twelfth place, with one point earned by Toksport WRT driver Marvin Dienst for 15th. His teammate Tim Heinemann finished one place behind, narrowly missing out on the points.

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.”

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

Full results: www.dtm.com/en/standings