• Thomas Preining finishes ninth in Saturday’s race at the Nürburgring carrying success ballast in his car
• On Sunday, Ayhancan Güven secures a top-five result, while Thomas Preining and Morris Schuring finish the race in positions ten (#91) and twelve (#92)
• With the points scored at its home event, Manthey retains the lead in the DTM team championship

Nürburg. At Manthey's DTM home race weekend, Ayhancan Güven (Turkey) secured the team's best result with a fifth-place finish in Sunday's race. Thomas Preining (Austria) placed his Porsche in ninth and tenth positions at the Nürburgring, while Morris Schuring (Netherlands) claimed twelfth on Sunday. Despite suffering two retirements in Saturday’s race (Schuring and Güven), Manthey remains in the lead in the DTM team standings after races nine and ten of the season with a twelve-point advantage.

The Manthey drivers started the first race at the Nürburgring from positions ten (Preining), fifteen (Güven) and twenty-two (Schuring) after the three cars were unable to match the pace of their competitors in qualifying and got held up by traffic in the final sector of the track. The race got off to a promising start for the Porsche 911 GT3 R, but took a turn on lap three due to an oil spill from another car. Schuring, who lost the rear of his Porsche on the oil spill, could not avoid contact with the car of Güven – the Turkish driver had to retire the No. 90 car at the side of the track less than five minutes into the race due to a broken tie rod. Schuring also ended the race early, with less than ten minutes remaining, due to a broken tie rod as a result of the contact in the starting phase. Team-mate Preining fought several battles for tenth place throughout the race. After a confident pit stop and strong defending despite the success ballast the Austrian had to carry because of his victory at the Norisring, he finished the race in ninth place after a penalty was imposed on a competitor.

On Sunday, the three Porsche drivers started the race in the Eifel right behind each other in eleventh (#92), twelfth (#90) and thirteenth (#91) place. After the No. 90 car was pushed by another vehicle in the starting phase, the Porsches made contact with each other. As all three cars remained largely undamaged, the drivers were able to continue the race. In the further course of the race, Ayhancan Güven made up seven positions thanks to strong overtakes and a clever strategy. Even damage to the front of his car caused by contact with Jordan Pepper, who was driving on cold tyres after the first pit stop at the time, did not prevent the Turkish driver from crossing the finish line in fifth place and collecting important championship points. Preining and Schuring also finished in the points after 55 minutes of racing and two mandatory tyre changes each, coming in tenth (#91) and twelfth (#92).

"A challenging weekend with some highlights for us off the track. Overall, the Nürburgring showed its best side: great weather and over 600 guests who supported us – besides our partners and customers, we invited all our employees along with their families and friends to our home races. This was complemented by two exciting races that truly offered a lot to the spectators. Sportingly, however, we were unable to fully exploit the potential of our cars, especially in qualifying, where more was possible. We will work on that to improve at the Sachsenring. Nevertheless, we remain optimistic and still lead the team standings," explains Nicolas Raeder, Managing Director of the Manthey Racing GmbH. "In terms of performance, we would have liked to have offered our partners and colleagues on site something different this weekend. The first qualifying session was difficult, which was due to our lack of pace and the fact that many cars braked in the last sector. The race was then unfortunately very frustrating with the retirement of Morris and Ayhancan's cars. Thomas managed to stay out of the fray and, considering the success ballast he was carrying, we maximised the result with ninth place. In the second qualifying session, we simply failed to exploit our potential – we will analyse this and have to do better. Race two was nerve-wracking at the start because our three cars made contact with each other after Ayhancan's car was pushed by another car. We are very happy that everyone was able to continue. Ayhancan then had a really good pace in the race, showed some nice overtaking manoeuvres and, thanks to good pit stops and strategy, we were able to finish fifth – even though we had damage to the front. Thomas had worse tyres than many others who had retired the day before, which is why he had more difficulties. In the end, however, we limited the damage with the three points finishes we got on Sunday. We are not giving up in the drivers' standings and continue to lead the championship in the team standings. We are preparing as well as possible for the Sachsenring, will give it our all and hope for podium results there," adds Patrick Arkenau, Director Racing.

With 225 points, Manthey continues to lead the DTM team standings by twelve points. Thomas Preining is fifth in the drivers' standings (115 points) with only twenty-two points behind the leader with three race weekends remaining, while Ayhancan Güven holds eighth place (94 points). After the Nürburgring races, Morris Schuring sits in 18th position (31 points). The next two sprint races in the series will take place at the Sachsenring from 22 to 24 August.

Quotes on the DTM race weekend at the Nürburgring:

Ayhancan Güven, Porsche 911 GT3 R #90: "After Saturday's race, I was determined to achieve a strong result for the team on Sunday. Unfortunately, damage to the car ultimately prevented us from doing so. I was briefly concerned that I wouldn't be able to finish the race, but the car held toghether – huge credit to the team for that. It's a shame that we didn't quite make it onto the podium in the end, but we scored important points and put on a good show for the fans. Even though it wasn't the home race weekend we had hoped for, the support from the fans was amazing. Hopefully we can deliver a better result for them at the Sachsenring."

Thomas Preining, Porsche 911 GT3 R #91: "Unfortunately, it wasn't the weekend we had hoped for at the Nürburgring. We lacked the pace in qualifying to compete at the front – and starting from the midfield always makes the races more difficult. On Saturday, we made the most of the 20kg success ballast and scored important points, but paid the price for that on Sunday: we were up against many drivers who had retired the day before and therefore had fresh tyres, which makes a big difference on this track. Still, scoring points on both days was crucial, and we're definitely still in the title fight. Now our goal for the Sachsenring is to get on course for the podium again."

Morris Schuring, Porsche 911 GT3 R #92: "Overall, I can take away some positives from the weekend. After a difficult Saturday, we managed to improve on Sunday, and especially in qualifying, it was good to be competing in the same league as my teammates. Even though both races were tough, we picked up some important points. That's good motivation to keep pushing at the Sachsenring."

DTM Race Calendar 2025:

25.04. – 27.04.2025 Motorsport Arena Oschersleben
23.05. – 25.05.2025 DEKRA Lausitzring
06.06. – 08.06.2025 Circuit Zandvoort / NL
04.07. – 08.07.2025 Norisring
08.08. – 10.08.2025 Nürburgring
22.08. – 24.08.2025 Sachsenring
12.09. – 14.09.2025 Red Bull Ring by VKB Bank / A
03.10. – 05.10.2025 Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg

Results DTM race 1 at the Nürburgring:

9th. Thomas Preining, Porsche 911 GT3 R #91
DNF. Ayhancan Güven, Porsche 911 GT3 R #90
DNF. Morris Schuring, Porsche 911 GT3 R #92

Results DTM race 2 at the Nürburgring:

5th. Ayhancan Güven, Porsche 911 GT3 R #90
10th. Thomas Preining, Porsche 911 GT3 R #91
12th. Morris Schuring, Porsche 911 GT3 R #92