DTM Norisring: Preining powers past Ferrari duo for Race 2 win

Thomas Preining stormed to victory on Sunday at the Norisring, claiming his third Nuremberg DTM win at the historic street circuit and his first of the 2025 season. The Austrian combined aggressive overtaking with a perfectly timed second pit stop to beat the Emil Frey Racing Ferraris of Jack Aitken and Thierry Vermeulen in a hard-fought 64-lap race.

Early chaos halts race before it begins

The action was halted almost immediately after the start when a multi-car crash in the midfield at Turn 1 brought out the red flag. Among those eliminated were Marco Wittmann in the #11 Schubert Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 and Nicki Thiim in the #28 ABT Sportsline Lamborghini Huracán GT3. The delay lasted over 30 minutes.

Ferrari front row leads early stages

At the restart, pole-sitter Vermeulen led the field in the #69 Emil Frey Racing Ferrari 296 GT3, with team-mate Aitken in the #14 Ferrari close behind. Preining, starting fourth in the #91 Manthey EMA Porsche 911 GT3 R, immediately jumped into third past the third Emil Frey Racing Ferrari of Ben Green and #64 HRT Ford Performance Ford Mustang GT3 of Arjun Maini.

The top three held station in the opening phase, but Preining’s pressure on Aitken built steadily. Vermeulen was the first of the trio to pit, however, lost valuable track position. That left Aitken and Preining to fight it out, the pair staying out longer and setting up a decisive final phase.

Lightning pitstop hands Preining the lead

The race turned on the second round of stops. A blistering pit stop from Manthey EMA brought Preining out just behind Aitken, and with warmer tyres, the Austrian wasted no time making the pass. He went on to control the final stint and took the chequered flag 1.6 seconds ahead of the Brit.

Vermeulen completed the podium, missing out on victory from pole. Maro Engel was fourth in the #130 Mercedes-AMG Team Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 after a clean and tactical drive. Arjun Maini claimed fifth in the #64 HRT Ford Performance Ford Mustang GT3, marking the car’s best result in DTM so far.

Championship battle tightens up

Ben Green took sixth in the #63 Emil Frey Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 ahead of René Rast in the #33 Schubert Motorsport BMW M4 GT3. Lucas Auer worked his way from 14th to eighth in the #22 Mercedes-AMG Team Landgraf Mercedes-AMG GT3, maintaining his championship lead ahead of Preining. Saturday’s winner Jordan Pepper finished ninth in the #27 TGI Team Lamborghini by GRT Lamborghini Huracán GT3 dropping him back to third in the championship after a short-lived second place resulting from Saturday’s race win, while Jules Gounon rounded out the top ten in the #4 Mercedes-AMG Team MANN-FILTER Mercedes-AMG GT3.