Third place is enough: Thomas Preining is DTM champion for the second time
Maro Engel wins the season finale but falls 12 points short, Ricardo Feller completes a Manthey double podium and Marco Wittmann recovers from 16th to seventh
Thomas Preining is the 2026 DTM champion. The Manthey Porsche driver finished third in the season finale at the Hockenheimring on Sunday, and that was more than enough to keep Maro Engel at bay, even though Engel won the race in his Winward Mercedes-AMG.
It is Preining’s second DTM title after 2023. He ends the season on 225 points, 12 ahead of Engel. Marco Wittmann, who started the day 20 points down, finishes third in the standings on 198 points.
From seventh on the grid to third in a few corners
The title looked less certain after qualifying. Bastian Buus put his Land Porsche on pole and Porsche locked out the front row, but Preining only managed seventh. Engel qualified third, which was worth an extra point. Wittmann had a disastrous session and lined up 16th.
Preining needed a top-seven finish, and he settled the question almost immediately. He made a strong start and was up to fourth after the opening corners, then moved into third, with his Manthey team-mate Ricardo Feller close behind.
Behind them the first lap claimed one of Engel’s Winward team-mates. Jules Gounon’s Mercedes-AMG was hit by Thierry Vermeulen’s Emil Frey Ferrari into the second corner, and Gounon’s race ended there. From that point Engel was the only Mercedes in the leading group.
Engel took the lead with contact
Engel did everything he could to make Preining’s afternoon uncomfortable. He moved up to second on the opening lap and, shortly before the first round of pit stops, took the lead from Buus with a forceful move that involved contact. Buus stayed on the track but dropped to third, behind Preining.
Sunday’s race had two mandatory pit stops, and both played out in Engel’s favour. Preining tried the undercut at the first stop, but Winward’s stop was clean and Engel kept the lead. Before the second stops Engel was about four seconds ahead. Light rain fell during the second stop window, though not enough for anyone to switch to wet tyres. Preining pitted a lap before Engel, and again Engel held on.
From there Engel controlled the race to the flag. It was not enough. With Preining running second, the title was out of Engel’s reach.
A Manthey one-two behind the winner
The last lap brought one more twist. Feller had looked the quicker of the two Manthey drivers but never attacked his team-mate. On the final lap, Preining let him through. Feller crossed the line 3.058 seconds behind Engel, with Preining a further 0.640 seconds back in third.
Buus finished fourth, ahead of Ben Dörr’s McLaren and Matteo Cairoli’s Ferrari. Wittmann recovered from 16th on the grid to seventh, a strong drive but nowhere near enough. Arjun Maini, Marco Mapelli and Mirko Bortolotti completed the top ten. Saturday’s winner Lucas Auer started 12th and finished 13th.
| Pos | Driver | Team | Car |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Maro Engel | Winward Racing | Mercedes-AMG GT3 |
| 2 | Ricardo Feller | Manthey | Porsche 911 GT3 R |
| 3 | Thomas Preining | Manthey | Porsche 911 GT3 R |
| 4 | Bastian Buus | Land-Motorsport | Porsche 911 GT3 R |
| 5 | Ben Dörr | Dörr Motorsport | McLaren 720S GT3 |
| 6 | Matteo Cairoli | Emil Frey Racing | Ferrari 296 GT3 |
| 7 | Marco Wittmann | Schubert Motorsport | BMW M4 GT3 |
| 8 | Arjun Maini | HRT Ford Racing | Ford Mustang GT3 |
| 9 | Marco Mapelli | Abt Sportsline | Lamborghini Temerario GT3 |
| 10 | Mirko Bortolotti | Grasser Racing | Lamborghini Temerario GT3 |
Top ten of race 2 as published by Speedweek. Full official classification to follow on our results page.
“The worst and longest day of my life”
Preining did not pretend it had been easy. “It was the worst and longest day of my life,” he told Austrian broadcaster ORF (translated from German). “There were many good and many bad moments.”
Engel, runner-up in the championship, was proud rather than bitter. “I put everything into this weekend and I think we can be proud of what we’ve done,” he said, as quoted by Motorsport.com.
Wittmann was gracious in defeat. “You really have to congratulate Thomas, Manthey and Porsche,” the BMW driver said, adding that “we simply weren’t in a position to do anything against them.”
Manthey takes the teams’ title, Mercedes the manufacturers’
Manthey EMA also won the teams’ championship on 330 points, ahead of Winward Racing on 309 and Schubert Motorsport on 284. Mercedes-AMG took the manufacturers’ title ahead of Porsche, BMW and Ferrari.
| Pos | Driver | Car | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Thomas Preining | Porsche | 225 |
| 2 | Maro Engel | Mercedes-AMG | 213 |
| 3 | Marco Wittmann | BMW | 198 |
| 4 | Lucas Auer | Mercedes-AMG | 182 |
| 5 | Matteo Cairoli | Ferrari | 160 |
Final 2026 drivers’ standings, top five, after 16 races.
It has been quite a year for Preining. He also won the 24 Hours of Spa in June, and he turned the DTM season around in the second half. This morning we set out what he needed at Hockenheim: seventh place. He did better than that.
Our view
Engel deserves more credit than a runner-up spot usually gets. He arrived 22 points behind, took the extra point in qualifying, made the decisive pass on Buus and won the race. Over the weekend, the jammed wheel at his Saturday pit stop probably cost him more points than anything Preining did on track.
But a title is decided over 16 races, not one afternoon. Preining went into Sunday with a cushion and used it exactly as a champion should: a quick start, no risks, and third place. That he could afford to wave Feller through on the last lap says everything about how controlled this was.
Wittmann’s weekend shows how much the DTM now depends on one qualifying lap. From 16th on the grid, seventh was probably the maximum.
What comes next
- The DTM goes into its winter break. The 2027 season opens at the Red Bull Ring in Austria on 23 to 25 April.
- Our full results page for the Hockenheim finale follows once the official classification is published.
Was Preining the deserved champion, or did Engel’s late charge make him the driver of the season? Tell us in the comments.
