Porsche manufacturing unit driver Thomas Preining has revealed he thought twice about leaving his employer due to the DTM and virtually cried when signing his first Porsche contract.
Preining is now a longtime determine within the DTM; the Austrian driver received the 2023 title within the ‘Grello’ Porsche and has impressed since his sequence debut in 2022 with aggressive, daring driving.
However few individuals know that the 27-year-old critically thought-about strolling away from his Porsche contract within the late 2010s to race within the Class 1 period of the DTM.
Talking on the Over the Restrict podcast with Laurens and Dries Vanthoor, Preining recalled how troublesome it was to decide to Porsche again in 2017. At the moment, Porsche was not taking part within the DTM, and he feared he was giving up his shot at Germany’s premier touring automotive sequence.
“I at all times watched [the DTM]. And for me, I used to be actually struggling to signal my Porsche Junior contract, despite the fact that I knew the possibility to even proceed racing on any stage might be 1% if I do not signal it,” he mentioned.
“I knew that is me giving up the DTM for the longer term as a result of again then Porsche was not in DTM. So I used to be virtually crying in Dr. Walliser’s workplace after I signed. All of it turned out effectively.”
Preining mentioned that was not the one time he questioned his future with Porsche.
“After I completed the junior programme and had the possibility to turn out to be a manufacturing unit driver, I virtually left Porsche once more due to the DTM,” he defined. “I had an opportunity to change to the DTM through the Class 1 period. However that challenge didn’t appear to be an honest medium- or long-term answer.”
Paul Di Resta, R-Motorsport, Aston Martin Vantage AMR
Picture by: Alexander Trienitz
Why it may well solely be the R-Motorsport Aston challenge
Preining didn’t title the staff concerned, however the context strongly suggests he was referring to the Aston Martin Class 1 challenge run by R-Motorsport, which briefly crammed the hole in 2019 after Mercedes-AMG’s exit from the DTM.
Preining examined a Mercedes C63 DTM on the sequence’ young-driver check at Jerez in December 2018, driving for HWA alongside Ferdinand Habsburg, Jake Dennis and Jake Hughes. Daniel Juncadella served because the reference driver at the moment.
Juncadella, Habsburg and Dennis, together with Paul di Resta, shaped the motive force line-up for the Aston Martin challenge in 2019, with HWA accountable for its DTM operations.
Preining, then 20 years outdated and whose junior contract ran till the top of 2018, as a substitute competed as a “Younger Skilled” for Porsche staff Herberth Motorsport within the ADAC GT Masters in 2019, the place he received on his maiden weekend.
In hindsight, staying with Porsche labored out effectively for Preining. R-Motorsport withdrew from DTM after one troublesome season, because it struggled to battle Audi and BMW on account of monetary causes.
The manufacturer-heavy days of the DTM additionally ended only a 12 months later, with the sequence adopting the customer-focused GT3 method in 2021.
This opened the door for Porsche to affix the DTM, coinciding with Preining’s promotion to manufacturing unit standing.
“As issues turned out a few years later, they modified the rules for DTM,” he mentioned. “You should utilize GT automobiles. And within the first season, Porsche was not there. However I used to be calling them each week if there’s any means one thing might occur. And it did. So I used to be actually blissful about that.”
Porsche lastly entered the DTM in 2022 with the Bernhard staff and SSR Efficiency – and after a troublesome begin to the season on the Norisring, Preining secured the German model’s first race victory that 12 months.
His maiden drivers’ title adopted in 2023, with Manthey EMA, and he has remained a constant frontrunner within the sequence since then.
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