Seventh place at Hockenheim is enough for Thomas Preining’s second DTM title
Preining leads Wittmann by 20 points and Engel by 22 with 28 left, after Lucas Auer won a chaotic Saturday race
Seventh place. That is all Thomas Preining needs in this afternoon’s final DTM race at the Hockenheimring to win his second title. The Manthey Porsche driver arrives on Sunday with 209 points, 20 clear of Marco Wittmann and 22 clear of Maro Engel, and with 28 points still on the table nobody else in the field can catch him.
It could have been settled on Saturday. A win would have done it for Preining, but a messy start dropped him down the order, and the first match point slipped away. The title fight therefore goes to the last race of the season, which starts at 16:30 CEST.
Twenty points, 28 to play for
The arithmetic is simple. A Sunday in the DTM is worth a maximum of 28 points: three for pole position in the morning qualifying session and 25 for the race win. Wittmann can reach 217 points at best, Engel 215.
Seventh place in the race pays nine points, which would take Preining to 218 and out of reach of both rivals, whatever they do in qualifying or the race. According to the scenarios published after Saturday’s race by Motorsport-Total, a top-seven finish makes Preining champion regardless of the others.
Anything less opens the door. Wittmann has to outscore Preining by more than 20 points on Sunday, Engel by more than 22. A tie on points would be broken on the number of race wins.
A wheel that would not come off
Engel has the most reason to feel he left points at the track on Saturday. The Winward Mercedes driver led for a long spell, but at his pit stop the right-rear wheel jammed and he stood still for more than 16 seconds. He rejoined fourth.
He fought back past Wittmann late in the race, but forced the Schubert BMW off the track in front of the Mercedes grandstand. The stewards ordered the two to swap places, so Wittmann finished third and Engel fourth. Engel still gained two points on Preining, but it could have been a lot more.
Preining’s afternoon was the opposite story. He started third, ran onto the grass shortly after the start and dropped back through the field before recovering to fifth. “I’m glad we made it to the finish, at the start almost everyone drove into my car,” Preining said afterwards, as quoted by ran.de (translated from German). “We still took good points. I’m very grateful to my crew.”
Auer wins, Engstler hits the wall
The race itself went to Lucas Auer in the #22 Landgraf Mercedes, his first win of the season. Mirko Bortolotti finished second in the Grasser Lamborghini ahead of Wittmann.
Auer’s win came after a heavy crash on lap two. Pole-sitter Luca Engstler was fighting Auer for the lead when the two touched in the fast right-hander before the Mercedes grandstand. Engstler’s Abt Lamborghini Temerario spun and hit the concrete wall backwards. After a short safety car period the race was red-flagged for several minutes. Engstler was taken to the medical centre for checks and said he was fine. Whether Abt can repair his car in time for Sunday was still open after the race.
Auer said himself that the title is no longer within reach for him, which leaves three drivers in the fight.
Three drivers, three titles between them
None of the three contenders is new to this position. Preining won the DTM in 2023 with Manthey. Wittmann is a two-time champion, in 2014 and 2016, and drives the #11 Schubert Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 Evo. Engel, in the #80 Winward Mercedes-AMG GT3, is chasing the DTM title that has so far eluded him.
Manthey also knows how to close out a season here. Twelve months ago, Ayhancan Güven won the 2025 title at Hockenheim in the #90 Manthey Porsche, finishing just four points ahead of Auer. Preining finished that season fourth.
The team title is close too. Manthey EMA leads with 293 points, ahead of Winward Racing on 284 and Schubert Motorsport on 275, so the same three cars carry the team championship into the last race. You can read more about Engel’s team in our Winward Racing team profile.
Our read
On paper this is Preining’s to lose. Seventh place is not a big ask for a driver who qualified third on Saturday.
But Saturday also showed how quickly a DTM race can go wrong. Preining was nearly taken out at the start, and his team-mate Ricardo Feller collided with Thierry Vermeulen and had to serve penalty laps. One more busy first lap and Preining could find himself in the same midfield traffic, this time without the time to recover.
Our money is on Wittmann as the bigger threat. Engel has the pace, as his long lead on Saturday showed, but Wittmann knows how to finish off a title fight, having done it in 2014 and 2016.
Qualifying first, then the decider at 16:30
- Qualifying: Sunday morning. Pole is worth three points and the next places in qualifying score too, so Wittmann and Engel can chip away at the gap before the race even starts.
- Race 2: 16:30 CEST, later than usual because the championship ceremony follows the race.
- Watch the start: Preining starts wherever qualifying puts him, and Saturday showed how costly the first laps can be.
- Watch the pit stops: one slow wheel cost Engel the lead on Saturday.
RNT photographer Melanie Keller is at the Hockenheimring today. Our race report and full results follow after the flag.
Does Preining bring home seventh place, or does Wittmann or Engel pull off the comeback? Tell us in the comments.
