• Ayhancan Güven celebrates his second victory of the season in Saturday's race in the Netherlands, while Morris Schuring secures his first top-five finish in the DTM
• In Sunday's race, Thomas Preining finished third to secure a podium finish, with Schuring and Güven completing the triple points haul
• After six of sixteen sprint races, Manthey will travel to the Norisring for the next race weekend as the leading team in the DTM team standings

Zandvoort. Manthey scores a total of 57 team championship points at the DTM guest races in the Dutch dunes. Ayhancan Güven (Turkey) emerges victorious from the turbulent Saturday race, celebrating his second win of the season. On Sunday, he finishes his Porsche 911 GT3 R in twelfth place. Thomas Preining (Austria), who had to retire his car early in the first race due to a tyre failure, fights his way up from fifth on the grid to third on Sunday, securing his second podium finish of the current season. Morris Schuring (Netherlands) celebrated both his first top-five finish and a double points result in his home race after crossing the finish line in eleventh place in the second race.

The first eventful race in Zandvoort, which was marked by tyre decisions and numerous incidents on the track, saw the three Manthey drivers start from positions five (Güven), seven (Schuring) and eight (Preining). Güven managed to move up to the podium places immediately after the start. The Turkish driver held third place until the pit stop window opened and was one of the first drivers to bring the number 90 car into the pits for a tyre change. After pole-setter Jordan Pepper and later Abt driver Nicki Thiim were ahead of him following their stops, Güven was able to overtake both of them – first Pepper with 29 minutes remaining in the race, then Thiim with seventeen minutes left on the clock. He secured the lead, which he defended until the end of the race, celebrating his second victory of the season. The race was disappointing for Preining. The Austrian showed strong pace at the start and made up several positions. After just under twenty minutes of racing, he was already in fourth place. However, shortly after his mandatory pit stop, he was forced to retire from the race after suffering a puncture following contact with car number 63 (Pepper). Schuring was involved in intense battles for position in the first half of the race and was temporarily embroiled in duels with three rivals. He headed for the pits for his tyre change in seventh place. Despite a situation in the pit lane that was not his fault, in which he lost time, and a spin by Vermeulen at the exit of the pit lane, which he had to avoid, he returned to the race in a strong fourth position after the pit stop window. When the field entered the final five minutes after a safety car phase, he lost two places and crossed the finish line in sixth. Following a time penalty imposed retrospectively on car number 19 (Engstler), Schuring was classified in fifth place – his best result as a rookie in the sprint series.

In the opening minutes of Sunday's race, Preining and Güven each gained a place to move up to fourth (#91) and sixth (#90). Schuring, who had started the race from thirteenth on the grid, initially lost a position but fought his way back up to twelfth as the race progressed. Shortly before the second pit stop window, the Dutchman was overtaken by Arjun Maini and headed for the pits in thirteenth place. After the second mandatory pit stop, he found himself two places further up the field in eleventh place in his home race. A penalty against a competitor temporarily moved him up to tenth place, and he crossed the finish line in eleventh place after a late overtaking manoeuvre by Maini. Güven also finished the race in the points. After his first tyre change, he was initially in ninth place, but was forced off the track by car number 69 (Vermeulen) after his second pit stop. After a penalty against Vermeulen, he finished the race in twelfth place. Meanwhile, Preining celebrated his second podium result of the current season: after a quick first pit stop and some clever strategic decisions, he worked his way up to third place during the first pit stop window and held this position until the finish.

"The results of the weekend are mixed for us. Fifth place for Morris and victory for Ayhancan, who is now third in the championship – that's fantastic, of course. On the other hand, I felt very sorry for Thomas, who suffered his second retirement in a row on Saturday after 35 races in the points. That was tough, but every DTM race carries a certain risk of retirement, and the series he had put together before that was simply strong. Part of a racing driver's career is to give everything the next day despite defeats. With third place, he showed that he is always a force to be reckoned with. Morris achieved two strong results and clearly demonstrated to me that he is exactly the right person to be driving with us in the DTM. I am extremely pleased that we are leading the championship as a team. Now we have two challenging weeks ahead of us with Le Mans and the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring before we continue at the Norisring," explains Nicolas Raeder, Managing Director at the Manthey Racing GmbH. "We are very positive about the races in Zandvoort. It's great that we have taken the lead in the team standings and moved closer to the top in the drivers' standings with Ayhancan. Morris showed a real improvement in performance, drove a mega race on Saturday in difficult conditions and proved his talent. Overall, apart from the downsides of Thomas retiring and us hoping for a better result for Ayhancan in the second race, it was a great start to the three-week marathon that awaits us in June," adds Patrick Arkenau, Vice Presiden Racing at the Manthey Racing GmbH.

With 145 points, Manthey leads the DTM team standings after the races in Zandvoort, six points ahead of Winward Racing. Ayhancan Güven moves up to third place in the drivers' standings with 73 points, while Thomas Preining ranks ninth (57 points). Morris Schuring has worked his way up from eighteenth place in the championship to fourteenth (21 points). The next two races in the series will take place from 4 to 6 July at the Norisring, the only street circuit of the season. Before that, the Meuspath team has two intense weekends in quick succession with the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the 24 Hours of Nürburgring.

Quotes on the DTM race weekend in Zandvoort:

Ayhancan Güven, Porsche 911 GT3 R #90: "Zandvoort was quite a good weekend for us. The second win of the season. We were generally strong the whole weekend, scored a lot of points, made up some positions in the championship and got closer to the leaders. All in all a very positive weekend. The Sunday race was a bit difficult with the success ballast, so we couldn’t really maximize the result. There was some hard racing on track and some contact, so I was happy to bring the car back to the garage in one piece and score some solid points. Now I’m looking forward to the 24 hours of Nürburgring."

Thomas Preining, Porsche 911 GT3 R #91: "I had a good race on Sunday. It was very important to get a good result because, unfortunately, we had a lot of bad luck in the last two races, through no fault of our own, where we lost a podium finish, among other things. So I'm really happy for the whole team and my crew that we scored points again. We still have a lot of ground to make up in the championship, but it was a first step in the right direction. Now comes the Norisring, where I have won twice and secured my first DTM victory. It's a good place to score another win and I'm fully motivated!"

Morris Schuring, Porsche 911 GT3 R #92: "It was a difficult race on Sunday. We started from P13, I lost a position at the start and then got caught up in a kind of traffic jam. I managed to overtake one car and after the pit stops we made up another position. I kept fighting and was in P10 for most of the last stint. Unfortunately, I lost that position on the last lap and finished the race in P11. Of course, I would have liked to finish in the top 10. At least we scored points, and if someone had told me that a few days ago, I would have been happy with the result. Fifth place yesterday was great, of course. We are taking big steps in the right direction and can still improve in a number of areas. A big thank you goes to the team, and I wish them all the best and will keep my fingers crossed for Le Mans and watch everything from afar."