Thomas Preining is the 2026 DTM champion. Third place in the season finale at the Hockenheimring on Sunday 11 October 2026 was enough for the Austrian Porsche factory driver to add a second title to the one he won in 2023. He races the Manthey-run Porsche 911 GT3 R #91, and Manthey took the teams’ championship as well: its third in four seasons.
It was not a quiet run to the line. Preining arrived at Hockenheim 23 points clear in the drivers’ standings, according to Porsche’s release of 8 October, and still held a 20-point lead before the final race. He started seventh and was fourth by the end of a messy opening lap. Two quick pit stops from the Manthey crew moved him up to second. On the last lap he let teammate Ricardo Feller through, a thank-you to the Swiss driver who had spent the whole race guarding his rear.
Three 911 GT3 Rs in the top four
Maro Engel won the race for Mercedes-AMG. Behind him, Porsche 911 GT3 Rs filled the next three places. Feller finished second in the #90, his best result of the season. Preining was third. Bastian Buus, a DTM rookie with Team Land Motorsport, took fourth in the #29 after starting from pole: his first in the series, and the team’s first too. The Dane led the early part of the race before dropping back.
Porsche put the weekend crowd at 112,000 spectators across Friday to Sunday.
« This success cannot be overstated. The DTM is extremely close-fought; the competition is more intense than anywhere else, » said Thomas Laudenbach, Vice President Porsche Motorsport. He pointed to another number: « Our former Porsche Juniors have won three titles in four years. » Preining takes over the crown from Ayhancan Güven, another Porsche factory driver who came through the Junior programme.
The new champion talked mostly about nerves. « This weekend was particularly grueling, especially mentally. We had a very long wait […] between qualifying and the race. A lot of thoughts were running through my head. » He has made himself one promise: to savour this title more than the first, when the handshakes and back-slaps swept the moment away before he could take it in.
Maximilian Müller, Project Manager for the 911 GT3 R, summed up the plan as a clean race, a finish and the title. « We achieved all of that, » he said.
Manthey, now 67 per cent Porsche
The title lands just as the relationship between Porsche and Manthey changes. On 8 October Porsche AG announced it had raised its stake in Manthey Racing GmbH to 67 per cent, as part of its new « Sportwagenschmiede ’35 » strategy. The company founded by Olaf Manthey lists 30 years of GT expertise, seven overall wins at the Nürburgring 24 Hours, six class wins at Le Mans, and several FIA WEC and DTM titles. Since 2020 the two companies have developed nine Manthey Kits, from the 911 and 718 to the Taycan Turbo GT with Weissach package. One of them is offered for the 911 GT3 100 Years Nürburgring edition.
« We’ve won the title three times in four years. Our track record makes it clear that these successes are no fluke, » said Nicolas Raeder, Managing Director of Manthey Racing.
Hockenheim doubled as a showroom. On Friday 9 October, Manthey unveiled two limited runs for its 30th anniversary, 15 cars each according to Dailysportscar. The 911 GT3 Cup MR 30 starts from a fully reworked 992.1-generation 911 GT3 Cup: engine enlarged to 4.2 litres and 560 PS, sequential six-speed gearbox, track widened by 20 mm at the front and 50 mm at the rear, and body panels in recycled carbon fibre. Its performance sits between the GT3 Cup and the GT3 R. Deliveries are planned for the first quarter of 2027.
The second car, the 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport MR 30, has 500 PS and extensive carbon-fibre bodywork. It closes roughly a decade of Cayman-based race car development at Manthey, following the final 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport built at Zuffenhausen. First deliveries are due in November 2026. Order requests are open until 30 October, after which Manthey allocates the cars. No price has been published.
For the road-car lineage behind the championship-winning race car, our French-language history of the Porsche 911 GT3 is a good place to start.
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