Thomas Preining wrapped up the season with a masterful performance: Mere hours after securing the 2023 DTM championship title early with a pole position in qualifying, the German topped off his impressive performance with a first-place finish in Sunday’s race. For two pole positions and two race wins, the 25-year-old Porsche works driver collected the maximum points’ haul (56) at the final weekend at the Hockenheimring in front of 88,000 spectators.
“I’m almost at a loss for words,” admits Thomas Laudenbach, Vice President Porsche Motorsport. “It was a fantastic weekend in every way – and we managed to win all three DTM titles – the drivers’, the teams’ and the manufacturers’ championships. Thomas Preining proved himself to be a worthy title winner with this weekend’s performance and proved once again how much he deserves this success. I’d like to take this opportunity to expressly thank all the drivers, the teams and our crew at Porsche Motorsport in Weissach. Our package was spot on this year and made this fantastic result possible.”
Championship points for three more Porsche 911 GT3 R drivers
With German Laurin Heinrich (Team75 Motorsport) in sixth place and his Turkish teammate Ayhancan Güven in eleventh as well as the second Manthey EMA driver Dennis Olsen (Norway) directly behind on P12, three more 911 GT3 R drivers earned championship points in the 16th DTM race of the year. Marvin Dienst missed out on collecting points in 18th position, as did his German Toksport WRT teammate Tim Heinemann. The German driver had to park his race car shortly after the mandatory pit stop due to a damaged underbody.
“A turbulent and exciting year lies behind us,” says Sebastian Golz, Project Manager 911 GT3 R. “We launched our new 992-generation Porsche 911 GT3 R – and clinched all three titles with it in one of the most fiercely contested racing series in the world. The manufacturers’ championship in particular means an immense amount to us because it represents the result of the hard work of our three customer teams Manthey EMA, Team75 Motorsport and Toksport WRT as well as the entire Porsche motorsport team. My biggest thanks go out to everyone involved for enabling us to make history together in the DTM.”
Michael Dreiser, Director of Sales at Porsche Motorsport, adds: “We experienced a very exciting season with many ups and downs. It’s fantastic to see that we were able to win the manufacturers’ championship thanks to the performance of all three customer teams. It certainly wasn’t a walk in the park for all our customers who were racing the 911 GT3 R in the past months. The fact that this completely new vehicle has come out on top in this extremely competitive series is a great sign for the whole of customer sport.”
Titles in the team and manufacturers’ classifications decided early on Saturday
Thanks to their one-two victory on Saturday, Thomas Preining and Dennis Olsen secured the title in the team classification for the Manthey EMA squad at the penultimate race of the season and simultaneously secured Porsche’s first place in the manufacturers’ category. Starting from third on the grid, Olsen catapulted into second position immediately after the start and settled in behind his polesetting teammate. From then on, the Austrian-Norwegian duo controlled the race and – thanks to flawless pit stop performances for both cars – secured an uncontested one-two result. With the well-deserved maximum score of 45 points, they took an unassailable lead with the 911 GT3 R in both the teams’ and manufacturers’ classifications.
With Team75 Motorsport driver Laurin Heinrich in tenth and Marvin Dienst in twelfth position, two more Porsche drivers finished in the points. However, their respective teammates had to retire their cars after just over a third of the race distance: Ayhancan Güven (Team75 Motorsport) due to a technical problem and Tim Heinemann (Toksport WRT) due to a collision caused by another competitor in the starting phase.
Comments on the race weekend at the Hockenheimring
Thomas Preining (Manthey EMA, Porsche 911 GT3 R #91): “Two pole positions and two wins – the weekend couldn’t have gone better. Sunday morning’s qualifying lap was probably my best of the entire year and the timing was perfect. Of course, being able to lead the race from the start makes things a lot easier. Communication with the team worked perfectly. I always knew exactly what I had to do. Plus, my 911 GT3 R drove like a dream. It was a truly perfect end to an already perfect season.”
Laurin Heinrich (Team75 Motorsport, Porsche 911 GT3 R #75): “Fifth on the grid was a good place to start. Compared to Saturday, we found one or two minor things to improve our performance. I was very keen to finish the season well. At one point, I was even on track for the podium but we probably waited a little too long for the performance pit stop so we ended up in sixth place. Still, I’m as happy with my two top ten results on the final weekend as I am with my debut season as a rookie.”
Marvin Dienst (Toksport WRT, Porsche 911 GT3 R #99): “I’d like to thank Toksport WRT for the chance to race for them from mid-season. Those six months flew by. During this time, we made good progress to catch up with the other teams. Initially, things went really well for us at the Hockenheimring with twelfth place on Saturday. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a decent lap in Sunday’s qualifying so I couldn’t do more than 18th place. Now we’re heading into the winter break and then we’ll come back stronger next season.”
Results
Race 15:
1. Thomas Preining (A), Porsche 911 GT3 R #91, 37 laps
2. Dennis Olsen (N), Porsche 911 GT3 R #90, +0.624 seconds
3. Christian Engelhart (D), Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO 2 #19, +3.203 seconds
10. Laurin Heinrich (D), Porsche 911 GT3 R #75, +23.624 seconds
12. Marvin Dienst (D), Porsche 911 GT3 R #99, +27.559 seconds
DNF Tim Heinemann (D), Porsche 911 GT3 R #9, +23 laps
DNF Ayhancan Güven (TR), Porsche 911 GT3 R #24, +23 laps
Race 16:1. Thomas Preining (A), Porsche 911 GT3 R #91, 36 laps
2. Mirko Bortolloti (I), Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO 2 #92, +0.852 seconds
3. René Rast (D), BMW M4 GT3 #33, +7.618 seconds
6. Laurin Heinrich (D), Porsche 911 GT3 R #75, +11.356 seconds
11. Ayhancan Güven (TR), Porsche 911 GT3 R #24, +30.151 seconds
12. Dennis Olsen (N), Porsche 911 GT3 R #90, +30.566 seconds
18. Marvin Dienst (D), Porsche 911 GT3 R #99, +39.326 seconds
DNF Tim Heinemann (D), Porsche 911 GT3 R #9, +16 laps
Drivers’ classification after 16 of 16 races:
1. Thomas Preining (A/Manthey EMA/Porsche), 246 points
2. Mirko Bortolotti (I/SSR Performance/Lamborghini), 213 points
3. Ricardo Feller (CH/Team Abt Sportsline/Audi), 179 points
7. Dennis Olsen (N/Manthey EMA/Porsche), 129 points
13. Laurin Heinrich (D/Team75 Motorsport/Porsche), 94 points
15. Ayhancan Güven (TR/ Team75 Motorsport/Porsche), 70 points
18. Tim Heinemann (D/Toksport WRT/Porsche), 50 points
27. Marvin Dienst (D/Toksport WRT/Porsche), 11 points
Team classification after 16 of 16 races:
1. Manthey EMA (Porsche), 356 points
2. SSR Performance (Lamborghini), 291 points
3. ABT Sportsline (Audi), 286 points
6. Team75 Motorsport (Porsche), 157 points
11. Toksport WRT (Porsche), 95 points
Manufacturers’ classification after 16 of 16 races:
1. Porsche, 464 points
2. Lamborghini, 396 points
3. Mercedes-AMG, 364 points
4. BMW, 356 points
5. Audi, 336 points
6. Ferrari, 199 points
Full results: www.dtm.com/en/results