Home heroes come out on top after first DTM Race of 2026
- DIVEBOMB Motorsport
- 2 hours ago
- 2 min read
Written by Ayla Krachai, Edited by Pranav Sharma
Thomas Preining, Manthey driver and local Styrian icon, claimed the first victory of the 2026 DTM season today at his home track, the Red Bull Ring. Less than one second behind him was the other Austrian on the grid, Lucas Auer, in the Mercedes.
Despite this, neither driver gained pole position. Auer’s team-mate, Maro Engel, started at the front of the grid for the fourth time in his career. He lost his lead after a delayed pit stop as the left-rear wheel failed to attach; he consequently lost the lead to Preining.
Auer also experienced a delayed pit stop, two laps after Engel’s, which dropped him behind Preining and Jules Gounon. This placed Auer in third place, though he managed to fight back before and after a Safety Car period to finish second overall. DTM rookie and Land driver Bastian Buus finished in a successful fourth position for his first-ever Race, closely followed by Tom Kalender and Marco Wittmann.
The Safety Car came on Lap 2 when Ben Dörr collided with Buus and went into the barriers. A second Safety Car occurred later on when Nicolas Baert stopped off-track, causing several drivers to lose their advantage and closing the gaps in the Midfield. Preining still managed to control the restart confidently.
The Midfield was where the most action occurred: Kelvin van der Linde made a decisive move on Lap 9, overtaking Matteo Cairoli for seventh place. Timo Glock immediately closed in and challenged him for sixth.
Gounon executed a triple overtake on Mirko Bortolotti, Arjun Maini and Thierry Vermeulen to climb back into ninth after being overtaken by Maini.
The final laps saw many jostles for position: Preining defended from Gounon at the front until Gounon’s car began smoking from the right-rear, causing him to lose pace immediately and drop out of the podium positions.
Engel worked his way back up to the podium after losing the lead, while intense battles brewed in the Midfield. Following several instances of co ntact, van der Linde’s BMW suffered a complete engine failure that caused him to stop on track.
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