DTM Norisring
DTM Norisring: Thomas Preining wins chaotic race
Flawless strategy leads Preining to victory in Nuremberg
Sönke Brederlow
Edited: Jul 6, 2025, 9:30 PM
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Manthey Porsche driver Thomas Preining clinched victory in the second race of the Norisring round in the 2025 DTM season.
Preining, who started from sixth on the grid, triumphed thanks to a flawless strategy, beating Emil Frey drivers Jack Aitken and polesitter Thierry Vermeulen, who completed the podium in second and third place respectively.
The race started with a dramatic incident in Turn 1, involving Marco Wittmann’s BMW, the Lamborghinis of Mirko Bortolotti and Nicki Thiim, and Jules Gounon’s Mercedes, all of which retired, while Morris Schuring’s Porsche was damaged. The red flag was waved to recover the stricken cars and clear debris from the track.
The race restarted behind the safety car with polesitter Vermeulen maintaining the lead from Aitken and Preining, who had jumped from sixth to third in the first start.
A full-course yellow was called by race control when Fabio Scherer (HRT Ford) suffered a loose wheel; Tom Kalender slowed down to meet the delta time, but his Mercedes was hit from behind by Gilles Magnus’ Aston Martin, and both had to retire.
“I wouldn’t say I braked too early – drivers just sometimes don’t anticipate it,” Kalender explained to ran.de. “I saw three or four seconds left on the dash, which is normal.
“That would’ve been the usual braking point. I don’t know what the other driver was thinking, but it happened. You can’t just vanish into thin air. It was a typical racing incident.”
Ayhancan Güven, Manthey EMA Porsche 911 GT3-R, Tom Kalender, Mercedes-AMG Team Landgraf Mercedes-AMG GT3, Morris Schuring, Manthey EMA Porsche 911 GT3-R
Photo by: Alexander Trienitz
Once the race resumed, the leading pack came in for their first pitstops, but leader Vermeulen was overcut by Aitken and Preining.
More attrition occurred in the second half of the race, with Ricardo Feller rear-ending Luca Engstler when braking for the first corner, which ended the Spa 24 Hours winner’s race while Feller was able to continue.
At the front, Preining was closing in on Aitken, trailing the Ferrari driver by less than a second. The 2023 DTM champion braked too late when he made his initial attack at the Dutzendteich hairpin, but then pitted one lap earlier; a swifter service from the Manthey squad put him right on Aitken’s tail after the latter’s second pitstop. Preining quickly took the lead to win by 1.5s.
"I’m obviously very happy – this win was really hard-fought today," Preining told ran.de. "I had a fantastic start, moving from sixth to third, which is tough on the outside here, but it worked out well. After that, it was a brutal battle with Jack.
"We overtook Thierry thanks to strategy. Jack didn’t give me an inch, but I think it was fair and great entertainment for the fans. As always, we had a full house here, and it was nice to deliver a cool show."
Maro Engel took fourth ahead of Arjun Maini and the third Emily Frey Ferrari driver, Ben Green. Rene Rast salvaged seventh position but dropped to sixth in the drivers’ standings, still led by Lucas Auer (Landgraf Mercedes), who finished eighth.
Preining is now tied on points with Saturday race winner Jordan Pepper, both of whom trail Auer by seven points.
The DTM will return in five weeks’ time at the Nurburgring, on 9-10 August.
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Race 2 results
Main Information Additional Data Additional Data Driver Info
1
-
4
Main Information Additional Data
1
-
2
Cla Driver # Car Laps Time Interval Pits Points 1 T. Preining Manthey EMA 91 Porsche 911 GT3 R 64
1:22'01.118
25 2 J. Aitken Emil Frey Racing 14 Ferrari 296 GT3 64
+1.592
1:22'02.710
1.592 20 3
T. Vermeulen Emil Frey Racing
69 Ferrari 296 GT3 64
+5.209
1:22'06.327
3.617 16 4 M. Engel Mercedes-AMG Team Winward 24 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo 64
+9.851
1:22'10.969
4.642 13 5 A. Maini HRT Ford Performance 36 Ford Mustang GT3 64
+11.906
1:22'13.024
2.055 11 6
B. Green Emil Frey Racing
10 Ferrari 296 GT3 64
+16.599
1:22'17.717
4.693 10 7 R. Rast Schubert Motorsport 33 BMW M4 GT3 Evo 64
+17.963
1:22'19.081
1.364 9 8 L. Auer Mercedes-AMG Team Landgraf 22 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo 64
+18.196
1:22'19.314
0.233 8 9
J. Pepper TGI Team Lamborghini by GRT
63 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 2 64
+22.418
1:22'23.536
4.222 7 10 J. Gounon Mercedes-AMG Team Mann-Filter 48 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo 64
+23.122
1:22'24.240
0.704 6 11 A. Güven Manthey EMA 90 Porsche 911 GT3 R 64
+24.590
1:22'25.708
1.468 5 12 R. Feller Land-Motorsport 29 Audi R8 LMS Evo II 64
+24.758
1:22'25.876
0.168 4 13
M. Schuring Manthey Junior Team
92 Porsche 911 GT3 R 64
+26.102
1:22'27.220
1.344 3 14
N. Baert Comtoyou Racing
8 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 64
+27.179
1:22'28.297
1.077 2 15
B. Dörr Dörr Motorsport
25 McLaren 720S GT3 Evo 64
+40.042
1:22'41.160
12.863 1 dnf T. Glock Dörr Motorsport 16 McLaren 720S GT3 Evo 54
+10 Laps
1:14'53.050
10 Laps dnf L. Engstler TGI Team Lamborghini by GRT 19 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 2 31
+33 Laps
54'19.132
23 Laps dnf G. Magnus Comtoyou Racing 7 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 21
+43 Laps
46'17.961
10 Laps dnf
T. Kalender Mercedes-AMG Team Landgraf
84 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo 21
+43 Laps
46'25.660
7.699 dnf P. Maximilian Paul Motorsport 71 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 2 20
+44 Laps
45'02.431
1 Lap dnf F. Scherer HRT Ford Performance 64 Ford Mustang GT3 19
+45 Laps
44'42.986
1 Lap dnf M. Bortolotti Abt Sportsline 1 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 2 1
+63 Laps
4'59.201
18 Laps dnf M. Wittmann Schubert Motorsport 11 BMW M4 GT3 Evo 0
dnf N. Thiim Abt Sportsline 2 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 2 0
View full results
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