Winward Mercedes chauffeur Maro Engel does his task and wins the last race of the 2026 DTM season, however the title goes to Thomas Preining in the Manthey Porsche. The Austrian surfaces 3rd and, after 2023, crowns himself DTM champ for the 2nd time in his profession.
“It was a horror day today, especially with the late race, having to wait three hours longer,” Preining states on ProSieben “It’s not exactly pleasant when you can basically only lose.” The objective had actually been “to drive a clean race, without contact, and we managed that. I’m really proud of my team.”
Engel commemorates the win, however not the title. “I put everything into this weekend and I think we can be proud of what we’ve done,” the AMG motorist states on ProSieben “The joy outweighs everything. It was a fantastic race. Thanks to my guys, thanks to Mercedes-AMG.”
Maro Engel wins, however just ends up runner-up
Engel is runner-up in the 2026 season. “As our founder of Mercedes-AMG once said, you don’t have to become champion every year with Mercedes-AMG, but you should always be in a position to fight for the championship with it,” he includes. “We did that again this year and we will keep fighting.”
Manthey Porsche motorist Ricardo Feller ends up 2nd after being permitted through by Preining on the last lap. “I had cramp in my foot,” the champ states with a smile. Land Porsche chauffeur Bastian Buus, who had actually begun the race from pole, completes 4th. Ben Dorr (Dorr McLaren) takes 5th location.
Matteo Cairoli (Emil Frey Ferrari) ends up 6th, followed by Marco Wittmann. The Schubert BMW chauffeur had actually likewise entered into the ending with title opportunities, however eventually played no function. “You have the ambition, we fought until the very end and in the end we didn’t have the chances to make anything happen there,” he states on ProSieben
“Nevertheless, you really have to congratulate Thomas, Manthey and Porsche, who really did an outstanding job, were extremely strong, made no mistakes and are deserved champions accordingly,” states Wittmann. “And we simply weren’t in a position to do anything against them.”
Arjun Maini (HRT Ford) crosses the goal eighth, while Marco Mapelli in the Abt Lamborghini and Mirko Bortolotti (Grasser Lamborghini) total the leading 10.
Thomas Preining makes ideal race start
Preining pursuer Engel was under pressure in the ending, due to the fact that just a win would have provided the AMG chauffeur any possibility of taking the title in the last sprint. Beginning 3rd, the German for that reason worked his method as much as 2nd throughout the opening lap, while polesitter Buus at first took the lead.
Preining made an excellent start and instantly acquired numerous locations from seventh on the grid. After simply a couple of corners he was currently in 3rd location, carefully followed by Manthey team-mate Feller. The 3rd title competitor, Wittmann, likewise comprised ground in the midfield and was rapidly in the leading 7, before making no additional development.
Engel might no longer depend on assistance at the front as the race went on, due to the fact that team-mate Jules Gounon needed to park his Winward Mercedes at the end of the opening lap after a crash with Thierry Vermeulen (Emil Frey Ferrari). That left Engel as the only AMG chauffeur in the leading group.
Maro Engel snatches the lead from Buus
Quickly before the very first rest stop, the defend the lead heightened, as Engel had actually closed the space to leader Buus. The Land Porsche chauffeur protected his position by all ways, specifically at the barrette. That likewise permitted Preining and Feller to close in, developing a four-car pack at the front.
Much like the previous day, when the AMG chauffeur had actually required his method past Wittmann with a tough attack, Engel likewise released a dangerous surpassing relocation in the last race of the year. He barged past the Land Porsche with contact and took the lead.
Unlike the previous day, the proceed Buus was tough however not unreasonable, since the Dane did not need to leave the track. The Land Porsche dropped back to 3rd behind Preining as an outcome of the attack, before Buus headed in for his very first obligatory pit stop. Preining then triggered in pursuit of Engel.
The Manthey motorist stopped a little later, before his title competitor, who, nevertheless, headed into the pits simply one lap later on. Unlike the previous day, the Winward team’s stop was ideal this time. The AMG motorist was for that reason able to safeguard his lead in spite of Preining’s undercut.
Manthey Porsche chauffeur Preining takes no threats
The Austrian had the benefit in the ending that he was being followed by Manthey team-mate Feller along with fellow Porsche motorist Buus, and for that reason a minimum of did not need to fear an attack from behind. He generally just needed to bring his position home over the range.
That was not altered by Engel having the ability to extend his result in 4 seconds before the 2nd stop. Light rain even started throughout the 2nd pit-stop window, however it was inadequate to include additional stress or perhaps trigger a switch to damp tires.
Preining once again headed into the pits for his 2nd tire modification one lap before his title competitor. The 2nd stop likewise brought no modifications: Engel held his lead ahead of the Manthey Porsche motorist, who not surprisingly took no threats on cold tires.
In the closing phases, the Austrian gotten more cover from team-mate Feller, who was in fact much faster however did not wish to release an attack. On the last lap, Preining then let the Swiss chauffeur through without a battle. AMG motorist Maro Engel had actually done his task with his triumph, however in the end still lost out on his very first DTM title.
Manthey likewise wins the groups’ champion this year ahead of Winward and Schubert. Just in the producers’ standings can Mercedes-AMG commemorate the title. Porsche takes 2nd location because category, followed by BMW and Ferrari.
The DTM now heads into the winter season break. The 2027 season opener occurs from April 23 to 25, 2027 at the Red-Bull-Ring in Austria.
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