Three-way battle for the lead: Preining defeats Audi duo to claim first win of the season

Swift, serene, and faultless – Porsche driver Thomas Preining (A) chalked up his first win of the season on Sunday at the Lausitzring. The defending champion from Manthey EMA was ice-cold as he made his move at the decisive moment, claiming his sixth DTM win overall with two superb overtaking manoeuvres.

“That was one of the best DTM races that I have experienced as a driver. Our strategy of going with an early pit stop was the key to victory. After the tyre change, I didn’t move into the lead right away but I did get into a good position. I went straight on the attack and took a bit of a risk. That is racing in the DTM“, concluded Preining, who moved up to second place in the overall standings.

The 25-year-old was followed by the duo from Abt Sportsline: Kelvin van der Linde (ZA) finished 1.44 seconds back in second place, extending his lead in the table. Team-mate Ricardo Feller (CH) finished the fourth race of the season in third place – and the Audi driver is in the same position in the overall standings. 45,500 spectators at the Lausitzring enjoyed two completely different races. While torrential rain forced several interruptions during Saturday’s race, the dry conditions on Sunday resulted in plenty of battles for position and some tough wheel-to-wheel duels.

At the start of the fourth DTM race of the season on Sunday afternoon, it was pole-setter Preining who initially defended his lead over Feller and Kelvin van der Linde, who had been able to pass the Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo2 of Mirko Bortolotti (I/SSR Performance) ahead of him. The Audi driver was going faster and faster and managed to overtake Preining on lap four to take the lead. After a safety car phase and the subsequent restart, the Swiss driver was able to extend his lead to around a second.

After the mandatory pit stops, it was time for Preining to spring into action. The Austrian driver was the first to get some new Pirelli tyres and quickly got them into the ideal temperature window. Preining first overtook Feller and then Kelvin van der Linde, who had stopped later and were unable to block the Porsche works driver on their colder tyres.

There was some contact between the cars as Feller passed van der Linde, and race control ordered the drivers to swap positions again after reviewing the events. Preining remained unaffected by this as he controlled proceedings on track, crossing the finishing first after 42 laps ahead of Kelvin van der Linde and Feller. Bortolotti followed in fourth place, with fifth going to his brand team-mate Luca Engstler (Kempten/Lamborghini Team Liqui Moly by GRT).

René Rast (Bregenz) from Schubert Motorsport was the best BMW driver in sixth place. Maro Engel (Monaco) from the Mercedes-AMG Team Winward once again applied a brilliant strategy, moving up from 20th on the grid to finish seventh after a very late pit stop. Sheldon van der Linde (ZA) and Marco Wittmann (Fürth), Rast’s team-mates in the BMW M4 GT, followed in eighth and ninth. Lucas Auer (A) finished the fourth DTM race of the season in tenth place in the Mercedes-AMG GT3 at the Lausitzring.

Kelvin van der Linde: “It is a great feeling to be leaving the Lausitzring as championship leader. It is a superb performance from our team to deliver such a turnaround in form after the poor performance in Oschersleben. Unfortunately, I made a minor error on cold tyres just after the pit stop, and Thomas Preining exploited that right away.”

Ricardo Feller: “I did see myself topping the podium at various points but in the end, I have to be pleased with third place. The contact with my team-mate Kelvin van der Linde during our duel was unintentional. In that situation, I simply did not expect him to go so wide on the inside line.”