Winward Mercedes driver Maro Engel secured victory in the final race of the 2026 DTM season as Thomas Preining secured his second championship by finishing third.
"It was a horror day today, especially with the late race, having to wait three hours longer," Preining told ProSieben. "Not exactly pleasant when you can basically only lose." The goal had been "to drive a clean race, without contact, and we managed that. I'm really proud of my team."
It meant that despite winning, Engel had to settle for second in the championship: "I put everything into this weekend and I think we can be proud of what we did.
"The joy outweighs everything. It was a fantastic race. Thanks to my boys, thanks to Mercedes-AMG."
Maro Engel wins, but is only runner-up
"As our founder of Mercedes-AMG once said, you don't have to become champion every year with Mercedes-AMG, but you should always be in a position to fight for the championship with it," Engel added. "We did that again this year and we will keep fighting."
Manthey Porsche driver Ricardo Feller finished second after being let past by Preining on the final lap. "I had a cramp in my foot," the champion says with a smile. Land Porsche driver Bastian Buus, who had started the race from pole, took fourth place, with Ben Dörr (Dörr McLaren) fifth.
Matteo Cairoli (Emil Frey Ferrari) finished sixth, followed by Marco Wittmann. The Schubert BMW driver had also started the finale with title chances but ultimately played no role. "You have the ambition, we fought until the end and in the end we didn't have the opportunities to make anything happen," he told ProSieben.
"Nevertheless, you really have to congratulate Thomas, Manthey and Porsche, who really did an outstanding job, were extremely strong, made no mistakes and are therefore deserved champions. And we simply weren't in a position to do anything against them."
Arjun Maini (HRT Ford) crossed the finish line in eighth, while Marco Mapelli in the Abt Lamborghini and Mirko Bortolotti (Grasser Lamborghini) completed the top 10.
Thomas Preining makes perfect race start
Preining's pursuer Engel was under pressure in the finale, knowing only a victory would have given the AMG driver any chance of winning the title in the final sprint. Starting from third on the grid, the German worked his way up to second place on the opening lap, while polesitter Buus initially held the lead.
Preining made a good start and gained several positions from seventh on the grid. After just a few corners, he was already in third place, closely followed by Manthey teammate Feller. Wittmann also made up ground in the midfield and was quickly in the top seven, though he could make no further progress.
At the front, Engel could no longer count on assistance as the race went on - teammate Jules Gounon had to park his Winward Mercedes at the end of the first lap after a collision with Thierry Vermeulen (Emil Frey Ferrari).
Maro Engel snatches lead from Buus
Shortly before the first pit stop, the battle for the lead came to a head, as Engel had closed the gap to leader Buus. The Land Porsche driver defended his position by all means, allowing Preining and Feller to close in, creating a four-car pack at the front.
Just like the day before, when the AMG driver had forced his way past Wittmann with a hard attack, Engel also launched a risky overtaking move in the final race of the year. He squeezed past the Land Porsche with contact and took the lead.
Unlike Saturday, the move against Buus was hard but not unfair with the Dane remaining on the track. Yet the Land Porsche dropped back behind Preining to third place as a result of the attack before Buus peeled off for his first mandatory pit stop. Preining then took up the chase of Engel.
The Manthey driver came in for his stop a little later, still before his title rival, who headed for the pits a further lap later. The Winward squad's stop went perfectly and allowed the AMG driver to defend his lead despite Preining's attempted undercut.
Manthey Porsche driver Preining takes no risks
In the finale, the Austrian had the advantage of being followed by Manthey teammate Feller as well as Porsche stablemate Buus, and therefore at least did not have to fear an attack from behind - he only had to bring the car home safely.
That did not change even when Engel was able to extend his lead to four seconds before the second stop. During the second pit-stop window, light rain began to fall, but it was not enough to add extra drama - the track not wet enough for a switch of tyres.
Preining once again headed to the pits one lap before his title rival, but this window brought no change: Engel held his lead ahead of the Manthey Porsche driver, who understandably took no risks on cold tyres.
In the closing stages, the Austrian still received cover from teammate Feller, who was actually faster but did not want to launch an attack. On the final lap, Preining then let the Swiss driver past without a fight. AMG driver Maro Engel had done his duty with his victory, but ultimately still missed out on his first title in the DTM.
Manthey also secured the teams' championship ahead of Winward and Schubert. Only in the manufacturers' standings can Mercedes-AMG celebrate winning the title. Porsche took second place in the standings, followed by BMW and Ferrari.
The DTM now heads into the winter break. The 2027 season opener will take place from April 23 to 25, 2027 at the Red Bull Ring in Austria.