Manthey Porsche driver Thomas Preining throws away a certain victory at the Sachsenring on the final lap – how the Austrian explains his mistake and what Pepper has to say
Manthey Porsche driver Thomas Preining had victory in the first DTM race at the Sachsenring practically in the bag when he made a costly mistake on the final lap: The Austrian collided with Jordan Pepper (Grasser Lamborghini) and fell back to fourth place.
What exactly happened? “It’s relatively easy to explain: I’m just an idiot,” Preining said in an interview with ran.de, finding clear words for his mistake. “I lost the car one lap before the end, easily in the lead. I can’t afford to make a mistake like that.” The 2023 DTM champion was dejected.
After crossing the finish line, he even remained seated in his car for quite some time. “It’s extremely frustrating. It would have been a lot of points that we desperately needed. The team did a perfect job with the strategy and pit stop. And then to throw it away like that, with no pressure from behind, is just stupid.”
“I’m extremely disappointed in myself.”
The decisive moment came in the last corner of the penultimate lap, when Preining made his first mistake, allowing Pepper in second place to close the gap. “I lost control of the car slightly,” Preining admitted.
“It’s always difficult with slicks in semi-wet conditions, but something like that should never happen to me, especially with such a big lead,” he admits. The Grasser Lamborghini driver then made another attempt to take the lead on the start-finish straight.
What are you doing…DTM2025 pic.twitter.com/NtsZJUj5FV
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“He wasn’t quite at the front yet and I was just trying to hold my position,” reports Preining. “But it was wetter on the inside than in the middle of the track and I lost the car on the wet patch. I overshot a little and then we touched.”
“I’m extremely disappointed in myself,” said the Manthey driver, visibly dejected. “I’m sorry to both teams because I definitely messed up a bit there. But at the end of the day, I’m glad Jordan [Pepper] was able to finish the race. He finished second, which is where he was before.”
No conversation between Pepper and Preining
Pepper took the incident in his stride: “I put my trust in him, and it didn’t pay off,” said the South African in the press conference about the situation in the first corner. “He practically hit me head-on in turn 1, he went in way too deep.”
“We made contact again at the switchback, and I was finally able to get past Thomas, but it was too late to catch up with Ayhancan [Güven]. He flew off the track in those conditions,” Pepper admitted. “I think it would have been difficult to keep him behind me on the last lap anyway.”
There was no direct conversation between the two rivals immediately after the race. “No, we had media commitments,” reveals the Grasser driver. “Maybe there will be a chance later. If he wants to talk to me, then sure, if not, that’s fine too.”
The two professionals have had “good battles over the years,” Pepper recalls: “I think we went over the limit once or twice, but we always had great respect for each other. My respect for him remains the same.”
Preining “maybe went over the limit”
The big loser of the day remains Preining, who ultimately crossed the finish line in fourth place. “I think today is also a lesson for him that he may have gone over the limit,” said Pepper. “That’s up to him. Everything’s fine with me.”
Until his mistake on the last lap, Preining had driven a flawless race. He started from eighth on the grid and fought his way up several positions in the first half of the race. “We had a test here two years ago where it was partly wet,” reveals the Manthey driver.
“We analyzed all the data and videos to prepare ourselves. Then we really got a lot out of it.” The pit stop was once again perfect, taking just 6.1 seconds. “As I said, tire pressure, strategy, fast pit stop. I was well prepared in terms of driving.”
“It could easily have been a lot more,” said Preining, annoyed at missing out on his second win of the season after triumphing in the second race at the Norisring. “But basically, the performance was good today.”
Güven “just thought and acted smartly”
Luck for the Manthey team: Ayhancan Güven, Thomas Preining’s teammate, inherits the victory, which means the Porsche team can still celebrate. “It was clear to me: last lap, these conditions, two drivers – no one is going to give in,” grins the Turkish driver. “And there’s a third driver, namely me.”
“I know exactly what they’re thinking, so I just thought ahead and acted accordingly,” admits the three-time winner this season. “In the end, it was a difficult situation, last lap, everyone wants to win. And I think that’s one of the rules of racing: when two fight, the third rejoices. That’s exactly what happened.”
