Thomas Preining and the Norisring – that continues to be an extremely successful combination: At the fourth round of the 2025 DTM season, the Porsche works driver celebrated his third victory on the Nuremberg street circuit on Sunday.

The day before, the Austrian had already achieved a second place for the Manthey EMA customer team. In 2022, the now 26-year-old clinched the first DTM victory for Porsche at the same venue and also triumphed in 2023 in the "Franconian Monaco". With the points scored this weekend, Preining has moved up to second place in the DTM drivers' standings after eight of 16 rounds of the season. With his colleague Ayhancan Güven and Manthey Junior Team driver Morris Schuring, the other two Porsche 911 GT3 R also scored points in both races at the Norisring.

With a very good start, Thomas Preining improved from sixth to third place until the first corner on Sunday – before the race was interrupted by a red flag shortly afterwards. After the restart, the driver of the No. 91 Porsche and the Ferrari duo in front of him pulled away more and more from the rest of the field. Another perfectly executed tyre change promoted him to second place after the first pit stop lap. From there, Preining was able to put more and more pressure on the leading Jack Aitken, but initially found no way past. The Manthey EMA driver completed the second mandatory pit stop one lap ahead of his opponent. When the Briton returned to the track just ahead of him, Preining overtook him a short time later in the Schöller-S section.

"Great performance here at the Norisring by Thomas Preining – after second place yesterday and today's victory, we can speak of a very successful DTM weekend," said Thomas Laudenbach, Vice President Porsche Motorsport. I congratulate Team Manthey very warmly and would like to thank everyone involved for the great work - including those who support from Weissach. With Manthey's lead in the team standings and second place in the drivers' and manufacturers' standings, we can look forward with excitement. I think we're in for a great second half of the season. We're in the title fights, so I'm really happy. Now we'll see if we can get a little more this year."

"Today we experienced motorsport of a very special kind, a thrilling duel between modern gladiators," said Sebastian Golz, Project Manager 911 GT3 R, summing up the action on Sunday. Until shortly before the end, it remained absolutely exciting to see who would take the victory. A huge compliment and big thanks to Thomas Preining and the Manthey crew, who got the maximum out of it on and off the track. Morris Schuring, who drove from last place at the restart to the points, also deserves applause. He didn't give up and rewarded himself for it with this comeback as the best rookie."

Schuring was the innocent victim of the collision that had led to the interim interruption of the race. He tackled the restart from the back of the grid and improved to 13th place with the up to 416 kW (565 hp) 911 GT3 R fielded by the Manthey Junior Team. Ayhancan Güven from Turkey lost the top ten place he thought was safe due to a failed second pit stop and finished Sunday's race in eleventh place with the second Manthey EMA Porsche.

Thomas Preining already in impressive form on Saturday

His third Norisring victory was already within reach for Preining on Saturday. From fourth on the grid, the former Porsche Junior moved up to second place. The fact that the 911 GT3 R works very well at the Norisring was also underlined by the other two Porsche drivers, who both finished in the points. From starting positions 18 (Güven) and 19 (Schuring), the duo moved up to eleventh and 14th place.

Quotes after the race

Thomas Preining (Manthey EMA, Porsche 911 GT3 R #91): "Both races were physically and mentally very demanding, with the outside temperatures the interior of the car heating up a lot. On Sunday, I could hardly follow the two Ferraris in front of me in the first stint. But our pit stop strategy paid off. After the first tire change, I was able to put more and more pressure on Jack Aitken in second place. Shortly after the second stop, I made the decisive manoeuvre. My three pit stops this weekend all came at exactly the right time and the crew executed them perfectly in each case. A big thank you to the whole team."

Ayhancan Güven (Manthey EMA, Porsche 911 GT3 R #90): "Two eleventh places that feel different. On Saturday, I was able to work my way up the field from a poor grid position and achieve the maximum possible for us on this day with eleventh place. On Sunday, on the other hand, we left a lot behind. I was in fifth position and had my sights set on fourth place. Unfortunately, I got stuck in traffic at the second pit stop and lost valuable time. This eleventh place is therefore a disappointment."

Morris Schuring (Manthey Junior Team, Porsche 911 GT3 R #92): "After the red flag, I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to finish the race at all. Against this background, I'm very happy to reach 13th place as the best rookie. I have now extended my series of points results to five races. I want to work on my qualifying performance next. But for now, I'm looking forward to the little DTM break before I continue at the Nürburgring in five weeks' time."

Result run 7:

1. Jordan Pepper (ZAF), TGI Team by GRT, Lamborghini #63, 65 laps
2. Thomas Preining (AUT), Manthey EMA, Porsche 911 GT3 R #91, +3.055 seconds
3. Maro Engel (DEU), Team Winward Racing, Mercedes-AMG #24, +4.132 seconds
11. Ayhancan Güven (TUR), Manthey EMA, Porsche 911 GT3 R #90, +30.026 seconds
14. Morris Schuring (NLD), Manthey Junior Team, Porsche 911 GT3 R #92, +35.822 seconds

Result run 8:

1. Thomas Preining (AUT), Manthey EMA, Porsche 911 GT3 R #91, +64 laps
2. Jack Aitken (GBR), Emil Frey Racing, Ferrari #14, +1.592 seconds
3. Thierry Vermeulen (NLD), Emil Frey Racing, Ferrari #69, +5.209 seconds
11. Ayhancan Güven (TUR), Manthey EMA, Porsche 911 GT3 R #90, +24.590 seconds
13. Morris Schuring (NLD), Manthey Junior Team, Porsche 911 GT3 R #92, +26.102 seconds

Drivers' standings after eight of 16 rounds:

1. Lucas Auer (AUT, Team Landgraf, Mercedes-AMG), 109 points
2. Thomas Preining (AUT, Manthey EMA, Porsche), 102 points
3. Jordan Pepper (ZAF, TGI Team by GRT, Lamborghini), 102 points
8. Ayhancan Güven (TUR, Manthey EMA, Porsche), 83 points
15. Morris Schuring (TUR, Manthey Junior Team, Porsche), 26 points