Second-time champ Preining continues his DTM success story

Thomas Preining has made more DTM history with his second title in four years. In the history of the series, which now stretches back over 40 years, the Porsche works driver is only the eighth driver to be crowned champion at least twice and also the first Austrian to achieve this feat.

“We did not make any mistakes when the pressure was on in the closing stages of the season. That was key to this success. I have been challenging for the DTM title on multiple occasions in Hockenheim, and that experience certainly helped. I am incredibly proud of this fantastic team effort,” said the new champion after Sunday’s deciding race in Hockenheim.

Preining loves hard, wheel-to-wheel racing and says the DTM provides him with the perfect stage for precisely that.

"As a racing driver, the DTM allows me to live my passion on the track," says the 28-year-old. "That is the kind of racing I enjoy most, and is exactly why I used to like this series so much as a kid. It goes without saying that it always depends on what the clerk of the course allows. However, I believe we drivers have a great deal of freedom within the rules, and there can be a bit of contact when you're racing door to door. That is what makes the DTM what it is."

Preining grew up in a family that was mad about motorsport: his father Andreas rode in the motorcycle world championship from 1989 to 1994, and Thomas was also fascinated by motorsport from a young age.

"As a child, I used to follow Valentino Rossi very carefully on television," Preining recalls. "He is an exceptional sportsman, who was riding in a world of his own at the time. I even got to know Rossi personally. He has worked hard for everything he has achieved in his career."

Preining first sat in a kart on Mallorca at the age of seven and between 2009 and 2013 he won multiple national and international kart championships. However, the career that began with so much promise looked like coming to a sudden halt in 2015, when a main sponsor jumped ship.

Even back then, Preining had the same fighter's mentality that has guided him to his second DTM title this year. Instead of at the racetracks of this world, the youngster spent countless hours in the simulator. He kick started his career in ADAC Formula 4 in 2016. Two years later, Preining dominated the Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland, maturing into a top driver and picking up an impressive 10 race wins on his way to the title. In 2021 he was promoted to Porsche works driver. At just 22 years of age, Preining had achieved what he had always dreamed of as a young boy.

His career path led Preining to the ADAC GT Masters to the DTM, where he claimed his maiden victory at the Norisring in 2022, presenting Porsche with its first success in the series. In 2023, he became the first Austrian to be crowned DTM champion. Three years later, he has repeated that feat in impressive fashion.

However, the route to his second title was far from straightforward. Preining began his championship-winning season in brilliant fashion, with a home win at the opening round at the Red Bull Ring (pictured below). However, he finished outside the top five in the next seven races. His frustration was clear for all to see at the Norisring, when he complained loudly over the radio.

But Preining had the perfect answer to a disappointing first half of the season, which he ended in eighth place in the table. The pursuit of his second DTM trophy appeared to give him new strength, and he proceeded to finish on the podium six times in a row, a feat that nobody had achieved before him in the GT3 era of the DTM.

Preining will have particularly fond memories of the Sachsenring weekend: coming into the weekend trailing championship leader Maro Engel by 16 points, he finished second and third to leave Saxony with a 23-point lead at the top of the table. Preining again showed nerves of steel at the showdown in Hockenheim, as he wrapped up his second DTM title.

His second championship win makes Preining, at the wheel of the Porsche 911 GT3 R with the world-famous Grello design, one of the biggest names in the DTM. A racing driver through and through, who loves the thrill of the racetrack. And a glance at Preining's remarkable career makes one thing clear: this was by no means the final chapter of his success story.