Thomas Preining made history in Hockenheim. The high-flying Porsche driver became the first DTM champion from Austria in only his second season in the DTM, crowning an impressive year and adding a special chapter to his own CV and that of others around him. The Manthey EMA racer also achieved a historic triumph for Porsche: Preining’s virtuoso effort in 2023 ensured that the trophy cabinet of the Stuttgart-based sports car manufacturer will include the DTM trophy for the first time.

A performance worthy of a champion: leader Thomas Preining (A) refused to be unsettled by his rival Mirko Bortolotti’s (I) fastest times in the final qualifying of the season on Sunday morning in Hockenheim. In temperatures around eleven degrees Celsius, the Porsche works driver from the Manthey EMA team kept his cool and produced the fastest lap of the weekend so far (1:36.800 minutes) with time running out at the end of the session.