Thomas Preining wrapped up his second DTM title at the season finale in Hockenheim: third place was enough for the Manthey Porsche driver to seal the championship. Curiously, the Austrian had even been running second until the final lap, before he let Manthey team-mate Ricardo Feller past.
"I had a cramp in my foot, that can happen," the new DTM champion tells Motorsport-Total.com, offering the explanation (probably not entirely serious). After all, on Saturday Landgraf driver Lucas Auer had already let his fellow AMG driver Maro Engel past - with exactly the same explanation.
On Saturday, Engel was fighting not only for victory but also for his remaining title chance. He was therefore happy to accept Auer's gift. Officially, however, team orders and manufacturer agreements have been banned under the DTM regulations since 2022. Drivers therefore like to get creative when they want to help their fellow manufacturer drivers.
Preining denies that he handed second place to his Manthey team-mate on Sunday: "No, no," says the Austrian with an understandable grin. His lead in the overall standings was, in any case, so comfortable that even 10th place would have been enough for him to win the title.
Thomas Preining enjoys a strong opening phase
The Manthey Porsche driver had started the final race of the year only from seventh on the grid. But Preining made a strong start and had already worked his way up to fourth during the opening lap. "To be honest, I wasn't in attack mode today," says the 28-year-old.
"At the start I just tried to stay out of trouble," adds Preining, who jokingly refers to the "carbon midfield". "People crashed everywhere around me. I just tried not to get hit by anyone."
"That worked out nicely," says the now two-time DTM champion. "I managed to move up to P4 on lap one and then managed to snatch P3 a couple of laps later when they were fighting ahead." Before the first pit stop, Preining also managed to overtake fellow Porsche driver Buus and move into second place.
At the first stop, Manthey opted for used tyres. "That was the plan from the start," reveals the Austrian. The idea was that "in the event of a late safety car, we would have the best tyres at the end and be able to defend ourselves. In the end, everything worked out brilliantly at the start."
Backing from Feller was "definitely more relaxed"
The Winward Mercedes squad chose the opposite strategy and put Engel on fresh tyres for the middle stint. For Preining, however, that hardly mattered. He "really didn't care that much whether Maro was faster now or drove 10 seconds up the road or not. The further away he is, the better."
In any case, Preining did not have to fear an attack from behind: Manthey team-mate Ricardo Feller followed the Austrian on an identical tyre strategy. "It was of course useful throughout practically the whole race that I always had some kind of backing," says a grateful Preining.
"It was for sure a lot calmer than having a bunch of Mercedes drivers around," adds the Austrian. "For sure I was happy about that. Still it's never comfortable, but for sure it made everything a bit more easy and a bit more relaxing, so I was happy about this."
"But you need that in a championship fight, not just on the final day; in general it is good when you have people you can rely on." In fact, Preining could rely on his team-mate on Sunday: although Feller was clearly running faster, the Swiss driver refrained from attacking.
Preining gift has no impact for Feller
Perhaps that was exactly why Preining got the mysterious cramp in his foot on the final lap, allowing Feller to slip past shortly before the finish. The Swiss driver took the opportunity without knowing why his team-mate had suddenly let him through. "Of course I took it then," says Feller.
"I don't know whether it might still have made a difference for me in the drivers' championship." Instead of the 16 points for third place, Feller ultimately received 20 points for second. However, that no longer had any impact on the overall standings.
"But of course I was pleased to end the season with a podium," adds Feller. Together with Preining, the Swiss driver will now celebrate the title win - and perhaps also massage the "cramp" out of his team-mate's foot ...