Title favourite Thomas Preining limited the damage with fifth place in Saturday’s DTM race at Hockenheim, because on the opening lap the Manthey Porsche driver even dropped from third on the grid to 14th after numerous skirmishes. And he is annoyed by the actions of his rivals.
“The start phase was very chaotic; unfortunately a few people tried to take me out,” the 28-year-old Austrian makes clear on ServusTV. “I lost several positions, but basically you can count yourself lucky that we didn’t pick up damage anywhere and even had the chance to fight our way back.”
But who is Preining’s anger aimed at? The trouble began when the Austrian was hit by Emil Frey Ferrari driver Thierry Vermeulen in Turn 2 and then had to go into the dirt at the entry to the Parabolica, costing him eleven places.
Vermeulen costs Preining eleven places: “He doesn’t do it on purpose”
“I realised very early that he had outbraked himself – he doesn’t do it on purpose,” Preining absolves Vermeulen in conversation with Motorsport-Total.com – and also attributes the move to the low grip in Turn 2.
“I left a lot of room, but it wasn’t enough – and then I was hit relatively hard at the right rear. At the exit of Turn 3 I even had to go onto the grass and lost a lot.”
Preining understands that everyone wants to end the season with a good result, “but if you deliberately try to take the other guy out of the race, I don’t think it’s okay,” he repeats his accusation.
And he clarifies: “Not with him, but with another colleague.” Preining does not want to say exactly who it is. He also keeps his cards close to his chest with ran.de: “Not on camera.”
But could it have been the team-mate of title rival Marco Wittmann? After one lap – also helped by Tom Kalender being spun around at the hairpin – Preining had already fought his way back up to ninth when he was directly behind Kelvin van der Linde.
When he tried to go past at the hairpin, the broadcast cut away because of the collision between the leaders Luca Engstler and Lucas Auer. But a replay shows that van der Linde put up stern resistance and Preining ran wide at the exit – and then lost three places.
Later, the two met again during Preining’s fightback – and van der Linde positioned himself in the middle under braking for the hairpin. The Manthey Porsche driver nevertheless went past on the inside. “I tried to hold the Porsche back, but that car is in a different league,” said Kelvin van der Linde after the race.
Preining: “We need a clean race without stupid moves”
Although Preining was initially only in 11th place after the restart, he was able to fight his way up to fifth with strong overtaking moves and a perfect stop in 6.6 seconds.
“Ultimately you have to focus on what you can do to get back to the front – be patient at the right moment, make the overtaking move,” he explains. “The strategy has to be right. We nailed that again. My boys are very reliable. You can see what that’s worth. Not everyone can do that.”
A reference to title rival Engel, who lost what looked like a certain victory because of a 16.5-second pitstop. And so, ahead of the final race, Preining is 20 points ahead of Wittmann and 22 points ahead of the Winward Mercedes driver in the overall standings. So while the only two remaining title rivals have to win, a few points will be enough for Preining.
“Ultimately we still need a good day tomorrow, a good qualifying, to start from near the front and then a clean race without incidents – without any stupid moves,” he hopes. “Then anything is possible.”
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