By RACER Staff - Apr 25, 2026, 1:03 PM ET

Dream DTM start for the Austrians as Preining leads Auer home at the Red Bull Ring

A clever strategy and strong nerves were the key to success for Thomas Preining (Manthey) who produced a flawless display on Saturday to win his home DTM race at Austria's Red Bull Ring for the second time.

The opening race in Styria saw the Porsche works driver cross the finish line in first place after 38 laps to claim his ninth victory in the DTM. Preining's compatriot Lucas Auer (Mercedes-AMG Team Landgraf) followed him home to make it an Austrian one-two at the Formula 1 circuit.

"I could not be happier. As a racing driver, you dream of moments like this!" said Preining. "To win in front of my family and many friends feels absolutely awesome.

"It was a very challenging race, with some very fast competition from Mercedes-AMG. Lucas Auer really put me under pressure at the end, so I was pretty relieved to cross the finish line."

Maro Engel (Mercedes-AMG Team Ravenol) was third in a race that went right down to the wire.

The highly anticipated start to the opening DTM race of the 2026 championship was hard fought from the word go. While polesitter Engel did a great job of defending his lead, Preining passed Auer to take second place. That trio was followed in fourth by Jules Gounon (Mercedes-AMG Team Mann-Filter), who had overtaken Ben Dörr (Dörr Motorsport). Shortly thereafter, Dörr's McLaren 720S GT3 Evo crashed into the barriers after contact with another car, forcing the McLaren driver out of the race.

The pit stops shook things up at the front of the field: Gounon and Preining came in for new Pirelli slicks as early as laps 14 and 15. Two laps later, Engel came into the pits. However, he lost valuable seconds after issues during the tire change. That left Preining free to take the lead ahead of Gounon. Auer also moved ahead of Engel after his mandatory stop, slotting into third place.

On lap 33, Gounon's race came to a sudden end with a technical issue. That opened the door for Auer, who found himself within striking distance of the leader after a safety car phase. However, Preining remained ice cool and refused to allow his compatriot to get close enough to challenge. The 27-year-old was led home in first place by the safety car, after Kelvin van der Linde was forced to retire his BMW M4 GT3 Evo. Preining was followed home by Auer, Engel and Tom Kalender (Mercedes-AMG Team Landgraf), who produced a fine performance to climb from 10th to fourth place.

Marco Wittmann (Schubert Motorsport) was the best-placed BMW driver in fifth, while Timo Glock (Dörr Motorsport) steered the second McLaren 720S GT3 Evo to sixth place. Arjun Maini (HRT Ford Racing) made up nine positions and finished seventh. Matteo Cairoli (Emil Frey Racing) ended his first DTM race in the Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo in eighth place, ahead of Porsche racer Ricardo Feller (Manthey). Nicki Thiim (Comtoyou Racing) completed the top 10.

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