Thomas Preining ahead of his home event: “The DTM is real racing – that’s what I live for”

DTM champion Thomas Preining knows all about successful home outings: in 2022, the Red Bull Ring was the scene of the Austrian’s second DTM victory. One year later, third place in Spielberg paved the way for him to go on and win the championship. This season, the Porsche works driver from Manthey EMA again has his sights set on celebrating in front of his home fans – from 27th to 29th September, the DTM will be at the Red Bull Ring for its Austrian race weekend. “Home races are always special. I will have a lot of fans there, plus the circuit is great fun,” says Preining.

Preining comes into the seventh of this season’s eight race weekends in fifth place in the table, and must capitalise on his home advantage and score heavily if he is to keep alive his hopes of successfully defending the title. He currently trails championship leader Kelvin van der Linde (Abt Sportsline) from South Africa by 51 points, with a maximum 112 points still on offer. “The Red Bull Ring has always been a happy hunting ground for me in the past. I have enjoyed a lot of success there, including in the DTM,” Preining recalls. “I particularly like the hairpin at the top of the hill. Right from the opening lap there is always action there, as it is a good overtaking opportunity. However, you need to be brave,” says Preining, going on to explain: “Because it is uphill, the braking zone is quite short. If you want to overtake, you have to be really late on the brakes. But I really enjoy that.”

Although Preining does not feature at the very top of the championship table, the 26-year-old has played a big part in an entertaining and exciting DTM season. In the past five races, Preining has made up 16 places compared to his starting position – sometimes with spectacular overtaking manoeuvres. At the Sachsenring, spectators watched on as the man from Linz repeatedly attacked Audi driver van der Linde in the Saturday race, eventually coming out on top after several laps. “For me, the DTM is real racing – that is what I live for. That is exactly why I used to enjoy the series so much as a kid,” says Preining, describing his aggressive driving style in the Porsche 911 GT3 R. “However, the many overtaking manoeuvres are also partly down to the circumstances. We have often been too far off the pace in qualifying, then you have to attack from the back,” Preining explains. However, one thing is important to the first Austrian DTM champion: “The battles are action-packed, but nobody has failed to finish because of something I have done.”

Preining’s only win of the season so far came at the Dekra Lausitzring – he now hopes to add more at the Red Bull Ring. The defending champion showed he has the pace to compete at the very front with a new DTM lap record at the Sachsenring. “The trend is heading in the right direction,” confirms Preining, who can also rely on a distinctive lucky charm. “When I was crowned champion at the finale of the 2023 season in Hockenheim, almost everyone in the team had a moustache, as they also did recently at the Sachsenring. As such, the beard is staying for now.”