Thomas Preining

Thomas Preining
Thomas Preining
	Preining at the Red Bull Ring in 2024
Nationality	Austria
Born	21 July 1998 (age 26); Linz, Austria
DTM career
Debut season	2022
Current team	Manthey EMA
Racing licence	FIA Platinum
Car number	91
Former teams	KÜS Team Bernhard
Starts	47
Wins	6
Poles	4
Fastest laps	3
Best finish	1st in 2023
Previous series
2019; 2019; 2017-18; 2015-16; 2015-16	ADAC GT Masters; European Le Mans Series; Porsche Carrera Cup Germany; Italian F4 Championship; ADAC Formula 4
Championship titles
2023; 2018	Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters; Porsche Carrera Cup Germany

Thomas Preining (born 21 July 1998) is an Austrian racing driver, currently competing in Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters, where he is the 2023 champion. He also won the 2018 German Porsche Carrera Cup championship.

Career

Formula 4

Preining's first season in single seaters was in 2015 with German team ADAC Berlin-Brandenburg where he competed at the first two rounds in the ADAC Formula 4 Championship where he got a podium in only his third race at this level at Oschersleben. Preining finished the season with 16 points.^[1] Preining competed in another F4 championship in 2015 where he raced at the first round in the Italian F4 Championship at Vallelunga with German team Mücke Motorsport.^[2] His best finish was 10th.

In 2016 he returned to the ADAC F4 grid for the full season but this time racing for Austrian team Lechner Racing. Preining would go on to finished the season with two wins and a further 4 podiums, this helped him to 4th in the championship with 180.5 points. Championship winner, Joey Mawson, finished 193.5 points ahead of Preining.^[3] Like with the German championship, Preining returned to race in the Italian F4 Championship in 2016.^[4] He only competed one round and his best result was 12th.

Porsche Carrera Cup Germany

In 2017 Preining made the switch from single seater to Sports car where he competed in the 2017 Porsche Carrera Cup in Germany racing for Konrad Motorsport. Preining won two races meaning he finished 5 points behind Christian Engelhart in 7th. Preining made the switch to his former team Lechner Racing for 2018 where he dominated the season, winning 10 of 14 races and only failing to finish on the podium twice. He won the championship by 37 points over Michael Ammermüller.

Formula E

Due to Preining's affiliation with Porsche, their Formula E team offered him a drive in the Rookie test at Marrakech. He partnered experienced French driver Frédéric Makowiecki. Preining's fastest time 1:19.374 which was almost 3 seconds slower than Nick Cassidy's fastest time of a 1:16.467.

In May 2024, Preining would again drive for Porsche in the Rookie Test at Berlin.^[5]

Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters

In December 2021, it was confirmed that Preining would race full-time in the 2022 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters by driving the only Porsche 911 GT3 R car fielded by KÜS Team Bernhard.^[6] In the first race of the fourth round at the Norisring, Preining scored his first win in the DTM, which was also the first win for a Porsche car in the series.^[7] His second win in the DTM came in the second race of the seventh round at the Red Bull Ring, which saw him starting from seventh position and making several overtakes on a wet track, before being able to maintain the lead as the track began to dry.^[8] Ahead of the eighth and final round at the Hockenheimring, Preining was one of the five drivers who had a chance of winning the championship title. However, he was in one of the cars that were involved in a major crash during the Saturday race. Although he was able to extract himself from his badly damaged car, the doctors eventually declared him unfit to participate in the Sunday race.^[9] This left him in 5th place in the drivers' standings, with a total of 116 points.

In 2023, Preining returned to the series for a second consecutive season, moving to fellow Porsche outfit Manthey EMA.^[10] In addition, Preining competed in the 2023 GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup with Rutronik Racing, sharing a Pro class entry with Laurin Heinrich and DTM teammate Dennis Olsen.^[11]

Racing record

Career summary

Season	Series	Team	Races	Wins	Poles	F/Laps	Podiums	Points	Position
2015	ADAC Formula 4 Championship	ADAC Berlin-Brandenburg	6	0	0	0	1	16	21st
2015	Italian F4 Championship	Mücke Motorsport	3	0	0	0	0	0	29th
2016	ADAC Formula 4 Championship	Lechner Racing	24	2	2	0	6	180.5	5th
2016	Italian F4 Championship	Lechner Racing	3	0	0	0	0	0	37th
2017	Porsche GT3 Cup Brasil - Endurance		1	0	0	0	0	29	23rd
	Porsche Supercup	Konrad Motorsport	4	0	0	0	0	22	19th
	Porsche Carrera Cup Germany	Konrad Motorsport	14	1	0	0	2	130	7th
2018	Porsche Supercup	Lechner Racing	10	4	3	3	5	135	3rd
	Porsche Carrera Cup Germany	Lechner Racing	14	10	11	11	12	279	1st
	24H GT Series - 911	Fach Auto Tech	1	0	0	1	1	?	?
2018-19	FIA World Endurance Championship - LMGTE Am	Gulf Racing UK	5	0	0	3	0	53	11th
2019	International GT Open	Frikadelli Racing	2	0	0	0	0	0	NC†
	European Le Mans Series - LMGTE	Proton Competition	3	1	1	2	1	32	10th
	ADAC GT Masters	Precote Herberth Motorsport	14	1	0	0	1	79	13th
	24 Hours of Nürburgring - SP9	Frikadelli Racing Team	1	0	0	0	0	N/A	DNF
2019–20	FIA World Endurance Championship - LMGTE Am	Dempsey-Proton Racing	5	0	0	0	0	12.5	15th
2019–20	Formula E	TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team	Test/Development driver
2020	Intercontinental GT Challenge	Absolute Racing	1	0	0	0	0	8	17th
2020	GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup	GPX Racing	4	0	1	1	0	3	30th
2021	ADAC GT Masters	KÜS Team Bernhard	14	0	0	0	2	74	13th
2021	24 Hours of Nürburgring - SP9	Falken Motorsports	1	0	0	0	0	N/A	9th
2022	Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters	KÜS Team Bernhard	15	2	0	1	4	116	5th
	GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup	Dinamic Motorsport	1	0	0	0	0	6	28th
	Nürburgring Endurance Series - SP9		2	0	0	0	0	0	NC†
	24 Hours of Nürburgring - SP9		1	0	0	0	0	N/A	DNF
2023	Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters	Manthey EMA	16	3	3	2	8	246	1st
	Nürburgring Endurance Series - SP9		2	0	0	0	0	0	NC†
	24 Hours of Nürburgring - SP9		1	0	0	0	0	N/A	DNF
	Intercontinental GT Challenge		1	0	0	0	1	30	15th
	Intercontinental GT Challenge	Rutronik Racing	1	0	0	0	0	30	15th
	GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup	Rutronik Racing	5	0	0	1	1	38	7th
	FIA GT World Cup	HubAuto Racing	1	0	0	0	0	N/A	15th
2024	Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters	Manthey EMA	16	1	1	1	3	158	5th
	Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie - SP9
	Intercontinental GT Challenge
	24 Hours of Nürburgring - SP9		1	0	0	0	1	N/A	2nd
	IMSA SportsCar Championship - GTD	Andretti Motorsports	1	0	0	0	0	239	58th
	GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup	Phantom Global Racing
	FIA GT World Cup	Origine Motorsport

† As Preining was a guest driver, he was ineligible to score points.
^* Season still in progress.

Complete ADAC Formula 4 Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	Pos	Points
2015	ADAC Berlin-Brandenburg	OSC1 1 10	OSC1 2 29	OSC1 3 3	RBR 1 14	RBR 2 30	RBR 3 26	SPA 1	SPA 2	SPA 3	LAU 1	LAU 2	LAU 3	NÜR 1	NÜR 2	NÜR 3	SAC 1	SAC 2	SAC 3	OSC2 1	OSC2 2	OSC2 3	HOC 1	HOC 2	HOC 3	21st	16
2016	Lechner Racing	OSC1 1 6	OSC1 2 14	OSC1 3 3	SAC 1 28	SAC 2 18	SAC 3 13	LAU 1 3	LAU 2 7	LAU 3 8	OSC2 1 2	OSC2 2 DSQ	OSC2 3 5	RBR 1 1	RBR 2 Ret	RBR 3 16	NÜR 1 8	NÜR 2 7	NÜR 3 1	ZAN 1 14	ZAN 2 7	ZAN 3 10	HOC 1 5	HOC 2 2	HOC 3 5	4th	180.5

Complete Porsche Supercup results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Pos.	Points
2017	Walter Lechner Racing Team	CAT	CAT	MON	RBR	SIL	HUN 18†	SPA	SPA	MNZ 8†	MEX 6	MEX 5	19th	22
2018	BWT Lechner Racing	CAT Ret	MON 14	RBR 1	SIL 8	HOC 4	HUN 1	SPA 1	MNZ 1	MEX 3	MEX 4		3rd	135

^† As Preining was a guest driver, he was ineligible for points.

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	Class	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Rank	Points
2018–19	Gulf Racing UK	LMGTE Am	Porsche 911 RSR	Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6	SPA	LMS	SIL	FUJ 4	SHA 9	SEB 4	SPA 7	LMS 4	11th	53
2019–20	Dempsey-Proton Racing	LMGTE Am	Porsche 911 RSR	Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6	SIL 11	FUJ 9	SHA 6	BHR Ret	COA 9	SPA	LMS NC	BHR	25th	12.5

Complete European Le Mans Series results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	Class	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	Rank	Points
2019	Proton Competition	LMGTE	Porsche 911 RSR	Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6	LEC 7	MNZ WD	CAT	SIL 1	SPA WD	ALG Ret	10th	35

Complete ADAC GT Masters results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Team	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	DC	Points
2019	Precote Herberth Motorsport	Porsche 911 GT3 R	OSC 1 6	OSC 2 1	MST 1 21	MST 2 Ret	RBR 1 7	RBR 2 Ret	ZAN 1 Ret	ZAN 2 17	NÜR 1 9	NÜR 2 11	HOC 1 24	HOC 2 6	SAC 1 13	SAC 2 8	13th	79
2021	KÜS Team Bernhard	Porsche 911 GT3 R	OSC 1 26	OSC 2 8	RBR 1 11	RBR 2 17	ZAN 1 Ret	ZAN 2 Ret	LAU 1 Ret	LAU 2 15	SAC 1 5	SAC 2 3	HOC 1 12	HOC 2 4	NÜR 1 3	NÜR 2 Ret	13th	74

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
2019	Gulf Racing	Ben Barker Michael Wainwright	Porsche 911 RSR	GTE Am	331	38th	8th
2020	Dempsey-Proton Racing	Dominique Bastien Adrien de Leener	Porsche 911 RSR	GTE Am	238	NC	NC

Complete Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	Rank	Points
2022	KÜS Team Bernhard	Porsche 911 GT3 R	ALG 1 13	ALG 2 Ret	LAU 1 Ret	LAU 2 Ret	IMO 1 4³	IMO 2 Ret	NOR 1 1²	NOR 2 9	NÜR 1 Ret	NÜR 2 7	SPA 1 3²	SPA 2 3	RBR 1 5	RBR 2 1	HOC 1 Ret	HOC 2 DNS	5th	116
2023	Manthey EMA	Porsche 911 GT3 R (992)	OSC 1 11	OSC 2 3¹	ZAN 1 7	ZAN 2 2²	NOR 1 12²	NOR 2 1²	NÜR 1 3²	NÜR 2 5	LAU 1 15	LAU 2 4	SAC 1 2	SAC 2 4	RBR 1 6	RBR 2 3	HOC 1 1¹	HOC 2 1¹	1st	246
2024	Manthey Racing	Porsche 911 GT3 R (992)	OSC 1 10	OSC 2 13	LAU 1 3²	LAU 2 1¹	ZAN 1 14	ZAN 2 10	NOR 1 14	NOR 2 6	NÜR 1 7	NÜR 2 7	SAC 1 6¹	SAC 2 4	RBR 1 12	RBR 2 2	HOC 1 14	HOC 2 4	5th	158

Complete IMSA SportsCar Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	Class	Make	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Rank	Points
2024	Andretti Motorsports	GTD	Porsche 911 GT3 R (992)	Porsche 4.2 L Flat-6	DAY 9	SEB	LBH	LGA	WGL	MOS	ELK	VIR	IMS	PET	58th	239

References

^ David, Gruz (April 8, 2015). "Dienst, Preining, Zhou headline ADAC F4 entry list".
^ "Entry list" (PDF). acisportitalia.it. 2015. Retrieved 2020-05-09.
^ "Thomas Preining: Kein Geld für die Formel-3-EM / Formel 1 SPEEDWEEK.COM". www.speedweek.com.
^ Allen, Peter (April 7, 2016). "Italian and German F4 series get 40+ cars, qualifying races".
^ "Shock test hints at Porsche line-up change". The Race. 3 April 2023. Retrieved 3 May 2024.
^ Watkins, Gary (2021-12-17). "Le Mans winner Bernhard to enter Porsche team in DTM". Motorsport.com. Retrieved 2022-07-02.
^ Newbold, James (2022-07-02). "DTM Norisring: Preining scores Porsche's first win in race of survival". Motorsport.com. Retrieved 2022-07-02.
^ Thukral, Rachit (2022-09-25). "DTM Red Bull Ring: Preining wins thriller, van der Linde struggles". Motorsport.com. Retrieved 2022-09-26.
^ Thukral, Rachit; Haidinger, Sven (2022-10-08). "Five DTM drivers to miss Hockenheim finale after Race 1 chaos". Motorsport.com. Retrieved 2022-10-11.
^ Goodwin, Graham (24 February 2023). "Manthey EMA Confirm Olsen & Preining For 2023 DTM". Dailysportscar. Retrieved 24 February 2023.
^ "Rutronik Racing dévoile l'équipage Pro de sa Porsche" [Rutronik Racing unveils the Pro crew of its Porsche]. Endurance-Info. 3 March 2023. Retrieved 3 March 2023.

External links

Thomas Preining career summary at DriverDB.com

Sporting positions
Preceded by Dennis Olsen	Porsche Carrera Cup Germany Champion 2018	Succeeded by Julien Andlauer
Preceded by Sheldon van der Linde	Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters Champion 2023	Succeeded by Mirko Bortolotti

[1] David, Gruz (April 8, 2015). "Dienst, Preining, Zhou headline ADAC F4 entry list".

[2] "Entry list" (PDF). acisportitalia.it. 2015. Retrieved 2020-05-09.

[3] "Thomas Preining: Kein Geld für die Formel-3-EM / Formel 1 SPEEDWEEK.COM". www.speedweek.com.

[4] Allen, Peter (April 7, 2016). "Italian and German F4 series get 40+ cars, qualifying races".

[5] "Shock test hints at Porsche line-up change". The Race. 3 April 2023. Retrieved 3 May 2024.

[6] Watkins, Gary (2021-12-17). "Le Mans winner Bernhard to enter Porsche team in DTM". Motorsport.com. Retrieved 2022-07-02.

[7] Newbold, James (2022-07-02). "DTM Norisring: Preining scores Porsche's first win in race of survival". Motorsport.com. Retrieved 2022-07-02.

[8] Thukral, Rachit (2022-09-25). "DTM Red Bull Ring: Preining wins thriller, van der Linde struggles". Motorsport.com. Retrieved 2022-09-26.

[9] Thukral, Rachit; Haidinger, Sven (2022-10-08). "Five DTM drivers to miss Hockenheim finale after Race 1 chaos". Motorsport.com. Retrieved 2022-10-11.

[10] Goodwin, Graham (24 February 2023). "Manthey EMA Confirm Olsen & Preining For 2023 DTM". Dailysportscar. Retrieved 24 February 2023.

[11] "Rutronik Racing dévoile l'équipage Pro de sa Porsche" [Rutronik Racing unveils the Pro crew of its Porsche]. Endurance-Info. 3 March 2023. Retrieved 3 March 2023.

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