Championship leader Thomas Preining won Sunday's race at the Norisring. The Austrian repeated his success from last year, with which he secured the very first Porsche victory in the DTM. Already on Saturday, Preining's Manthey EMA teammate Dennis Olsen underlined how well the Porsche 911 GT3 R works on Germany's only street circuit with third place. After six of the 16 rounds of the season, Porsche, Manthey EMA and Preining are leading the manufacturers', teams' and drivers' standings in the DTM.

After his maiden DTM victory for Porsche at the same place last season, Thomas Preining and his new team, Manthey EMA, were able to triumph at the Norisring again this year. In the scorching heat of Sunday's race, the Austrian works driver prevailed against the BMW duo Sheldon von der Linde and René Rast, who had meanwhile rushed ahead, with a clever pit strategy and two impressive overtaking maneuvers halfway through the race. Germany's only city race attracted around 102,000 spectators over the weekend.

"I'm really happy for Thomas Preining that he was able to repeat last year's victory and thus maintain his lead of the standings after six of the 16 rounds of the season," emphasizes Thomas Laudenbach, Head of Porsche Motorsport. “Manthey has climbed to the top of the team classification after this weekend. As a newcomer to this championship, this deserves even more respect. It's a shame for Ayhancan Güven, who could have also finished on the podium without the penalty for his minor violation of the rules during the pit stop."

"Nuremberg is simply our territory, the Norisring suits the qualities of the Porsche 911 GT3 R," says Sebastian Golz, Project Manager 911 GT3 R, in a nutshell. “Thomas absolutely deserved victory today with a clever strategy and perfect driving execution. With Dennis Olsen's third place on Saturday, Manthey EMA was able to celebrate two podium finishes in one weekend - and that in one of the toughest GT3 championships in the world. Against this background, the double points results of our two young talents from Team75 Motorsport, Laurin Heinrich and Ayhancan Güven, also deserve great praise. With a bit more luck, both of them could have made it onto the podium as well.”

Preining uses the pit stop traffic perfectly to his advantage
Like the day before, Preining also started Sunday's race from second on the grid. However, he only came back from the first lap in fourth place. He was right behind Ayhancan Güven. The Team75 Motorsport driver started the race from fifth position. Dennis Olsen, who came from ninth, followed the two Porsches in front of him with the second Manthey EMA car. The top five were initially able to pull away from the rest of the field. Initially, there were practically no changes in position. For Laurin Heinrich (Team75 Motorsport) in eighth place, as well as the Toksport WRT duo Christian Engelhart in 14th place and Tim Heinemann in 20th place, things initially went neither forwards nor backwards.

Problems with the obligatory pit stop threw Güven out of the leading group. Preining quickly closed the gap to the BMW duo in front of him. Halfway through the race, the 24-year-old initially overtook reigning champion Sheldon van der Linde while braking for the hairpin bend. A few laps later he passed René Rast with a courageous maneuver at the same spot. The Austrian thus took the lead, which he was then able to extend to around two seconds in order to drive towards a sovereign victory.

Team colleague Dennis Olsen finished the race in sixth place after fighting a remarkable duel with Laurin Heinrich in the last third of the race. Last year's champion of the Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland ended Sunday's heated battle at the Norisring in seventh place, one position ahead of his team-mate Güven. The two Toksport WRT drivers Tim Heinemann and Christian Engelhart finished 16th and 17th. They narrowly missed out on the points.

With third place on Saturday, Olsen ensures the first success of the weekend
Compared to Sunday, the first race of the weekend was much more eventful. With grid positions two and three for Preining and Güven, the prospects for Porsche before Saturday's race seemed promising. "Unfortunately, our performance fell short of expectations and possibilities," stated project manager Golz after crossing the finish line. Olsen, who started eleventh, provided a ray of hope. The Norwegian largely stayed out of all the skirmishes and, thanks to impressive overtaking maneuvers, worked his way up to third place – his best result of the season so far in the DTM. Manthey EMA teammate Preining only came back from the first lap in seventh place due to bad luck at the start. A failed pit stop where a problem with the central nut of the left front wheel cost around ten seconds, threw the Austrian further back. More than twelfth place did not jump out for him.

After the start of the race, Güven was able to benefit from the hustle and bustle in the first hairpin bend and move up to second place. After the mandatory pit stop, the Team75 Motorsport driver initially did not find his original racing pace and had to let several competitors pass. He saw the checkered flag in fifth place. His teammate Heinrich was touched in the first corner and had to have a tire changed. From the end of the field he fought his way back up to tenth position and turned the fastest race lap in the process. When braking for the hairpin bend, however, he slipped into the rear of his fellow Mercedes-Benz Heinemann, who had to retire shortly afterwards with a damaged rear diffuser. As Christian Engelhart parked his 911 GT3 R after hitting a wall, Toksport WRT went out of the first race empty-handed.

Comments on the race weekend at the Norisring
Thomas Preining (Manthey EMA, Porsche 911 GT3 R #91): “We were already very strong on Saturday, but unfortunately lost the race in the pits after a good qualifying session. On Sunday I was able to start from the front row again and, after intense duels and cool overtaking maneuvers, I managed to win – it was a great feeling. I'm even happier about my victory because my family and friends have supported me locally. Due to the proximity to Austria, the Norisring is practically a second home race for me, in which I have now been able to win twice in a row.”

Ayhancan Güven (Team75 Motorsport, Porsche 911 GT3 R #24):“We were on course for a podium finish in both races, but our pit stops didn't go as well this weekend. As a result, we gambled away our good starting position. On Sunday, a penalty lap was added due to a mistake I made. We will now analyze exactly where we need to improve and come back stronger.

Tim Heinemann (Toksport WRT, Porsche 911 GT3 R #9):“With grid position 19 on Sunday, it was of course clear to us that a very difficult race was ahead of us – all the more so since the Norisring offers only a few overtaking opportunities. But thanks to my team's good strategy, we were able to make up positions during the pit stop. My 911 GT3 R worked very well and my race pace was right. Unfortunately, we could not turn this into a good result because of the lapping traffic. We know that we have to work on our performance in qualifying to get a better starting position for the race.”

Result race 5:
1st Sheldon van der Linde (RSA), BMW M4 GT3 #1, 69 laps
2nd René Rast (D), BMW M4 GT3 #33, +1.520 seconds
3. Dennis Olsen (N), Porsche 911 GT3 R #90, +2.547 seconds
5 Ayhancan Güven (TR), Porsche 911 GT3 R #24, +5.042 seconds
10 Laurin Heinrich (D), Porsche 911 GT3 R #75, +13.251 seconds
12 Thomas Preining (A), Porsche 911 GT3 R #91 , +21.138 seconds
DNF Tim Heinemann (D), Porsche 911 GT3 R #9, +14 laps
DNF Christian Engelhart (D), Porsche 911 GT3 R #99, +58 laps

Result race 6:
1. Thomas Preining (A), Porsche 911 GT3 R #91, 72 laps
2. René Rast (D), BMW M4 GT3 #33, +2.181 seconds
3. Sheldon van der Linde (RSA), BMW M4 GT3 #1, +2.612 seconds
6. Dennis Olsen ( N), Porsche 911 GT3 R #90, +5.063 seconds
7. Laurin Heinrich (D), Porsche 911 GT3 R #75, +5.635 laps
8. Ayhancan Güven (TR), Porsche 911 GT3 R #24, +8.046 seconds
16. Tim Heinemann (D), Porsche 911 GT3 R #9, +21.862 seconds
17. Christian Engelhart (D), Porsche 911 GT3 R #99, +23.049 seconds

Drivers' standings after 6 of 16 runs:
1. Thomas Preining (A/ Manthey EMA/Porsche), 88 points
2. Sheldon van der Linde (RSA/Schubert Motorsport/BMW), 78 points
3. Ricardo Feller (CH/ABT Sportsline/Audi), 61 points
8. Dennis Olsen (N/Manthey EMA/ Porsche), 52 points
9 Tim Heinemann (D/Toksport WRT/Porsche), 42 points
10 Christian Engelhart (D/Toksport WRT/Porsche), 36 points
14 Ayhancan Güven (TR/ Team75 Motorsport/Porsche), 32 points
15. Laurin Heinrich (D/Team75 Bernhard/Porsche), 31 points

team ranking after 6 of 16 runs:
1. Manthey EMA (Porsche), 131 points
2. Schubert Motorsport (BMW), 130 points
3. SSR Performance (Lamborghini), 116 points
5. Toksport WRT (Porsche), 76 points
7. Team75 Motorsport (Porsche), 62 points

Manufacturers' classification after 6 of 16 runs:
1st Porsche, 180 points
2nd BMW, 157 points
3rd Lamborghini, 141 points
4th Mercedes-AMG, 133 points
5th Audi, 116 points
6th Ferrari, 60 points

All results at: www .dtm.com/en/results