A nail-biting thriller in the DTM title decider at Hockenheim: favourite Preining puts himself in a strong position as the track dries out, whilst his rivals fall behind
A tricky tyre gamble during Saturday’s qualifying session at the season finale in Hockenheim – as the track was damp at the start, some drivers initially set a time on wet tyres before switching to slicks: but this proved to be a poor choice, so they switched back again. The big surprise came from Abt-Lamborghini driver Luca Engstler, who secured pole position with a time of 1:47.048 (results).
“Amazing!” said the Lamborghini youngster on ran.de, delighted with his first DTM pole. “That’s something that was still missing after my two wins.” Second place went to Landgraf-Mercedes driver Lucas Auer, who was 0.407 seconds slower and clocked his lap time at the very last moment.
The Austrian, who is reliant on the favourites making mistakes in the title race, has reduced his deficit in the overall standings to 44 points – with 53 points still up for grabs. And he seems more relaxed compared to last year, when he went into the final as the favourite. “This year, there’s no need to do the maths. I have to win – and that’s what I’ll try to do,” he says with firm determination.
But DTM leader and title favourite Thomas Preining (+0.459) also picked up a point in third place, even though his final lap time was disallowed due to track limits. With his time of 1:47.318, Preining would actually have finished second.
Preining can clinch the championship on his own today
The “Grello” Porsche driver therefore put in a strong performance, even though his strategy didn’t seem to be paying off at first: after an initial attempt on wet tyres, Preining switched to slicks, but – like his rivals – was unable to get them up to temperature in the cool, wet conditions at twelve degrees. When his team fitted wet tyres again shortly before the end, the slicks weren’t even warming up.
With a win this afternoon, Preining could secure the title as early as today. “I’ve been racing in the DTM for five years now and have won ten races – that shows just how difficult it is,” Preining explains to ran.de, making it clear that the task should not be underestimated.
Especially as he’s expecting dry conditions this afternoon. “So it’ll definitely be a race of pace. Let’s see where we stand. But basically, P3 is a great starting position. Hopefully we can make the most of it.”
Engel in seventh place: “There wasn’t really any more to be had”
Fourth place went to Emil Frey Ferrari driver Thierry Vermeulen (+0.663), who has clearly demonstrated that he is fit following his injury sustained during his celebratory jump in Barcelona a week ago. Preining’s Manthey team-mate Ricardo Feller (+0.747) finished in fifth place.
Where did Preining’s title rivals finish? Winward-Mercedes driver Maro Engel, who initially took a gamble by running on slicks throughout, could only manage seventh place, 0.939 seconds off the pace. As a result, he now trails by 24 points in the overall standings.
” “There really wasn’t much more in it,” the 41-year-old told ran.de. “We were in a good position. The strategy worked out well – the right tyres – but I simply didn’t have any more grip. I’ll have to look at it again and analyse whether it was perhaps down to the tyre pressure – or whatever the reason was.” Although Preining starts ahead of him, Engel isn’t giving up: “A lot can happen here.”
Engel probably shouldn’t expect any help from his team-mate Jules Gounon: the “Mamba” driver, who also had slicks on his car at the end, had a frustrating qualifying session and, 4.989 seconds off the pace, could only manage 20th and penultimate place.
Wittmann complains: “The worst conditions for the BMW”
Things went even worse for Schubert BMW driver Marco Wittmann: the two-time DTM champion finished eleventh, 1.381 seconds off the pace. He opted for the same strategy as Engel and took a gamble with slicks right from the start. It was only later that he switched to wet tyres. His deficit in the championship standings grew to 25 points following Preining’s third place.
Was the tactic a mistake? “I don’t think it made any difference in the end,” Wittmann replied to ran.de. “Kelvin went for the other strategy and rode on wet tyres at the start – and in the end we finished eleventh and twelfth. These are simply the worst conditions for us with the BMW – in these semi-wet conditions on wet tyres,” he explained.
Outsiders Cairoli and Thiim not in the top 10
“We would have needed another five minutes to get the slicks working – then it would have looked promising,” believes Wittmann, who now wants to try everything to finish ahead of Preining in the race. Because that’s the only way he can keep his title hopes alive.
The title challenge outsiders Matteo Cairoli and Nicki Thiim did not feature among the frontrunners: the Emil Frey Ferrari rider finished 13th, 1.462 seconds behind, whilst the Comtoyou Aston Martin driver could only manage 15th place, 1.857 seconds adrift.
They must hope that Preining retires from Saturday’s race, which will start at 1.30 pm as usual. However, the championship celebrations may well take place as early as this afternoon – with Preining being crowned DTM champion ahead of schedule at Hockenheim for the second time since 2023.