Manthey Porsche driver Thomas Preining won the DTM season opener at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg.
The Austrian, who started from third on the grid, benefited from a botched pit stop by polesitter Maro Engel in the Winward Mercedes to take the spot.
Landgraf driver and local hero Lucas Auer finished second, while Engel came home in third to complete an all-Mercedes podium. DTM rookie Bastian Buus (Land Porsche) took a strong fourth place in his debut, followed by Tom Kalender (Landgraf Mercedes) and Schubert BMW driver Marco Wittmann.
Timo Glock finished in seventh position with his Dorr-McLaren, but still has reason to worry. The German had to complete a penalty lap in the second half of the race after his tyres spun during the pit stop while the McLaren was still jacked up.
According to the race stewards’ initial impression, the penalty lap was not executed correctly, which is why the Dorr driver may face a further sanction after the race. Arjun Maini (HRT Ford), Matteo Cairoli (Emil Frey Ferrari) and Riccardo Feller (Manthey Porsche) complete the top 10.
Safety car phase after early Dorr accident
After the start, the expected chaos in the first corner failed to materialise: Engel confidently converted his pole position into the lead, followed by Preining and Auer. Behind them, an intense battle for the remaining positions was already underway.
At the start of the second lap, a collision occurred behind the leading group between Ben Dorr and Buus. Dorr was forced wide in the first corner and had to brake slightly to maintain control of his car.
Buus was caught off guard and lightly clipped the German’s rear, causing him to spin, slide off the track and crash backwards into the barrier. Dorr escaped uninjured, but his McLaren was damaged, necessitating the deployment of the safety car.
Conflict between Schubert BMW teammates
At the subsequent restart, Engel defended his lead, while Preining and Auer engaged in a fierce battle for second place, which the Manthey Porsche driver ultimately won. Until the pit stop window opened, there were numerous thrilling battles in the midfield.
The two Schubert BMW team-mates, Wittmann and Kelvin van der Linde, were battling for eighth position, even making slight contact in the process. “That was moving under braking,” Wittmann complained loudly over the team radio afterwards.
Maro Engel loses lead during pit stop
After the pit stop window opened, Glock, Feller, Finn Wiebelhaus (HRT-Ford) and Luca Engstler (Abt Lamborghini) were the first four drivers to pit for tyres. In the following laps, more drivers headed for the pits, with Preining among the first from the leading group.
Engel came into the pits two laps later, but the pitstop was anything but optimal: because the left rear wheel could not be attached immediately, the polesitter stood significantly longer than the competition and consequently lost his lead to Preining.
Auer’s pit stop, which followed two laps after Engel’s, also took too long, so the Austrian initially fell back to third place behind Preining and Jules Gounon (Winward Mercedes) and then had to defend himself against Engel’s attacks.
Another safety car period, triggered by Comtoyou driver Nicolas Baert who had to retire his Aston Martin with suspension damage, brought calm to the race and bunched the field together again after all the pit stops were completed. The subsequent restart, however, brought no changes at the front.
Gounon drops off the podium shortly before the end
Preining maintained his lead ahead of Gounon, Auer, and Engel. Until just a few minutes before the end of the race, everything looked set for this final result, but then disaster struck Mercedes: Second-placed Gounon had to retire his “Mamba” prematurely due to unexpected suspension damage.
Auer sensed his opportunity.The Austrian was hot on his compatriot’s tail in the final laps, looking for a way to overtake Manthey’s “Grello” Porsche. However, this never came to pass, as van der Linde had to retire his Schubert BMW shortly before the end due to a lack of oil pressure. This triggered the third safety car period, with Preining going on to win the race.
The Lamborghini drivers ran their own race and finished at the back of the field with the new Temerario. Mirko Bortolotti (Grasser Lamborghini) was the highest-placed driver for the Italian brand, finishing in 13th place overall and thus collecting three points.
The second race of the 2026 DTM season takes place on Sunday, starting at 1:30 p. The starting grid will be determined with a separate qualifying on Sunday morning.
Race results:
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