DTM champion Thomas Preining (Manthey-Porsche) started the second race weekend of the 2024 DTM season at the Lausitzring with the best time. The Austrian prevailed in the first practice session on Friday afternoon ahead of his 19 competitors. Preining needed 1:20.782 minutes for his fastest lap on the 3.478-kilometer circuit between Dresden and Cottbus.
Preining was surprisingly fast for training conditions: last year, the fastest lap times in the race were in the high 1:20 range. It was only at the end of the 55-minute session that some drivers put their foot on the gas and practiced one or two qualifying runs. In 2023, Jack Aitken’s pole time in the Emil Frey Ferrari was 1:19.937 minutes. Overtaking maneuvers are considered a difficult act at the Lausitzring, which makes qualifying particularly important.
Thomas Preining fastest in training after difficult start to the season
Kelvin van der Linde (Abt-Audi) led the rankings for a long time during the long run phase, but was then pushed down to third position. His Abt team-mate Ricardo Feller spent most of the session in the lower positions and finally finished the training in ninth place. Mirko Bortolotti (SSR-Lamborghini) turned out to be the fastest of the five Lamborghini drivers in the DTM starting field in fourth place. Last year’s winner also stormed forward late, while SSR team-mate Nicki Thiim finished 17th.
Lausitzring training: Four Mercedes-AMGs in the top 8
Mercedes-AMG, meanwhile, presented itself strongly as a collective and had four Mercedes-AMG GT3s in the top 8 of the time list. Behind second-placed Engel, Arjun Maini (HRT-Mercedes), Lucas Auer (Winward-Mercedes) and Luca Stolz (HRT-Mercedes) followed in fifth, seventh and eighth places. Manthey-Porsche newcomer Ayhancan Güven squeezed himself into sixth position between the Mercedes armada.
Ricardo Feller and the only rookie in the DTM starting field, Ben Dörr (Dörr-McLaren) completed the top 10. Noticeable: Schubert-BMW had absolutely nothing to do with the top places: The three DTM champions Sheldon van der Linde (P14), Marco Wittmann (P18) and Rene Rast (P20) ended up far behind, with the three-time champion even bringing up the rear. Oschersleben winner Luca Engstler (GRT-Lamborghini) placed between Wittmann and Rast in P19.
DTM at the Lausitzring: Late race start on Saturday
The lap times from the training should be treated with caution due to different preparation programs. With temperatures around 23 degrees and dry conditions, one or two teams may already have set their focus on the Sunday race. Similar weather conditions are expected for the second race of the weekend (start at 1:30 p.m.). However, there is a certain probability of rain.
Things will be different tomorrow (Saturday): The DTM race will start at 5:00 p.m. because TV partner ProSieben will be showing the Ice Hockey World Championship live on TV at noon. Instead, the Munich broadcaster will be broadcasting a DTM qualifying session on free TV for the first time on Saturday (from 1:30 p.m.).
The race continues in Lausitz with the 2nd free practice from 15:45 to 16:30, which you can watch free of charge via live stream in this article: