How serious was the retirement threat from former champion Thomas Preining at the Norisring weekend really? After a disappointing Saturday race in Nuremberg, the Manthey Porsche driver settled scores with the Balance of Performance (BoP) in the DTM and said in an interview with Motorsport-Total.com, “I’m really close to saying: There’s no point anymore, I’m stopping.”
Three weeks later, the 28-year-old dominated at Oschersleben, securing two poles and nearly two victories, had the final pit stop not gone wrong. But how does he view his statements today? “Generally, obviously, those are heat of the moment things,” says the Austrian.
“It was a very frustrating time, not only at Norisring, but also the races before, where we were really not doing as well as we probably should have. So for sure I was frustrated. Nevertheless, in that moment and in the following weeks during the summer I was spending a lot of time thinking what are the right steps for my future.”
Preining: Porsche contract expires at the end of the season
It’s a fact that Preining’s Porsche contract expires at the end of the year after two years, and his future has not yet been clarified. As for how things look in that regard? “I haven’t taken a decision yet,” clarifies Preining, who worked his way up as a Porsche Junior and is one of the few GT3 pilots to hold a factory driver contract with the Volkswagen brand.
“I’m definitely gonna stick around for a few more years in racing in general,” says Preining, ruling out a complete retirement for now. “I’m not gonna hang up the boots just yet, but as a works driver it’s also not always entirely up to me to decide which program I do, etc.”
Nevertheless, Preining, who won his first 24-hour race at Spa-Francorchamps this year, makes it clear that his love for the DTM has not completely cooled. “Of course, I do love DTM. It’s my favorite championship and I would love to stay, but it’s not always 100 percent in my hands,” he says.
Bortolotti’s warning: “Then DTM will be dead”
Apart from that, for DTM specialist Preining – who, aside from the opening win in Spielberg, did not finish higher than seventh in Zandvoort until Oschersleben – whether he is competitive also plays a role. “Like I said at Norisring: It didn’t make so much sense to drive, but obviously the way it’s been going since then is totally different. So, it’s very up and down.”
While Aston Martin driver Nicki Thiim, in view of Preining’s dominance in Oschersleben, made fun of the matter and said he would now threaten to retire as well, Bortolotti urges former DTM title rival Preining to definitely continue his career in DTM.
“I hope Thomas doesn’t retire,” the Italian says, having often expressed great respect for Preining. “We need him in DTM. Otherwise, if we lose drivers like Thomas and others that start to say ‘I’m gonna retire’, then the DTM will be dead.”
Is Preining fully back in the title hunt? “Not yet …”
Before Manthey’s home game at the Nurburgring – and thus six races before the end – Preining sits in fourth place in the overall standings, 28 points behind DTM leader Maro Engel. Is he fully back in the mix after Oschersleben? “Not yet,” he answers.
“We are hopefully on the way to the front. But the leader managed to create quite a big gap when we were struggling in the early parts of the season. So we’re still catching, but if we can have another weekend like at Oschersleben, of course that would really help our chance to reduce the gap,” says Preining. Manthey’s first DTM victory at the Nurburgring is therefore the declared goal.
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