Thomas Preining made a strong start to the final weekend of the 2026 DTM season at the Hockenheimring, topping both free practice sessions (FP1 and FP2) on Friday. The Manthey Porsche driver arrived at the season finale as the championship leader and immediately demonstrated his pace in changing weather conditions. Rain played a significant role throughout the day, forcing drivers and teams to adapt to a wet circuit as they prepared for the final two races of the season. With six drivers still mathematically in contention for the title, Friday’s running offered an important opportunity to assess performance ahead of Saturday’s opening qualifying session.
Preining entered the weekend with 197 points, holding a 23-point advantage over Maro Engel. Marco Wittmann followed just one point behind Engel, while Lucas Auer, Matteo Cairoli and Nicki Thiim also retained mathematical hopes of winning the championship.
Preining sets the pace in FP1
The opening free practice session gave the drivers their first opportunity to assess conditions at the Hockenheimring ahead of the decisive weekend. Preining immediately established himself as the driver to beat, putting his Manthey Porsche at the top of the timesheets. His performance provided an encouraging start for the championship leader, who entered the finale knowing that a strong weekend could secure his second DTM title.
With rain affecting track conditions, teams faced the additional challenge of finding the right balance between grip, tyre performance and car set-up. The changing conditions also made it difficult to draw firm conclusions about the competitive order ahead of qualifying. Preining, nevertheless, ended FP1 with the fastest lap, underlining his confidence at a circuit where he could secure the
2026 DTM Hockenheimring FP1 results
- Thomas Preining
- Jules Gounon
- Marco Wittmann
- Finn Wiebelhaus
- Mirko Bortolotti
- Maro Engel
- Ben Dörr
- Luca Engstler
- Kelvin van der Linde
- Arjun Maini
- Lucas Auer
- Ricardo Feller
- Maximilian Paul
- Matteo Cairoli
- Timo Glock
- Thierry Vermeulen
- Marco Mapelli
- Tom Kalender
- Bastian Buus
- Nicki Thiim
- Nicolas Baert
Preining remains on top in wet FP2
Conditions remained challenging during the second free practice session, with the rain placing even greater emphasis on car control and finding grip around the Hockenheimring. Preining continued his strong Friday performance and once again set the benchmark for the rest of the field. The Austrian recorded a fastest lap of 1:47.823, completing a clean sweep of the day’s practice sessions.
Kelvin van der Linde emerged as his closest challenger in the Schubert Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 Evo. The South African finished second with a 1:47.915, just 0.092 seconds behind Preining. Luca Engstler delivered a competitive performance for Red Bull Team Abt, placing third in the Lamborghini Temerario GT3. His 1:48.134 left him 0.311 seconds behind the championship leader. Lamborghini also occupied the next two positions, with Mirko Bortolotti taking fourth for TGI Team Lamborghini by GRT. His teammate Maximilian Paul followed in fifth, giving the Italian manufacturer three cars inside the top five.
Despite the difficult conditions, Preining maintained his advantage over his rivals and finished the final practice session of the season at the head of the field.
2026 DTM Hockenheimring FP2 results
- Thomas Preining
- Kelvin van der Linde
- Luca Engstler
- Mirko Bortolotti
- Maximilian Paul
- Jules Gounon
- Arjun Maini
- Maro Engel
- Lucas Auer
- Matteo Cairoli
- Ricardo Feller
- Bastian Buus
- Tom Kalender
- Thierry Vermeulen
- Marco Wittmann
- Nicki Thiim
- Timo GLock
- Marco Mapelli
- Finn Wiebelhaus
- Ben Dörr
- Nicolas Baert
Championship battle heads into qualifying
Preining’s performance across both sessions strengthened his position heading into the first qualifying session of the weekend. By topping FP1 and FP2, the Manthey driver demonstrated that he could maintain his pace despite the changing conditions. However, Friday’s results offered no championship points, leaving the title battle wide open ahead of the final two races.
Engel remains Preining’s closest challenger in the standings, while Wittmann also enters the decisive weekend with a realistic opportunity to fight for the title. Auer, Cairoli and Thiim face a more difficult task, but all three remain mathematically in contention. With unpredictable weather potentially continuing throughout the weekend, qualifying and race strategy could play a decisive role in determining the outcome of the championship.
Preining will now look to convert his impressive Friday pace into a strong qualifying result on Saturday morning before the first race of the Hockenheimring finale.
