🇦🇹 Thomas Preining

Thomas Preining is an established professional racing driver for Manthey EMA, rated at 5,588. He holds FIA Platinum grading, placing him among the full-professional ranks in GT and endurance racing. Preining competes primarily in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters, a national single-class championship in Germany raced solo, and holds the 2023 DTM title. He also races extensively in international GT competition and endurance series.[1]

His record spans 13 seasons from 2013 onwards across 156 starts. In the DTM, where he has concentrated his efforts since 2022 with Manthey, Preining has taken 57 starts, 9 wins and 21 podiums, culminating in the 2023 championship. He has raced GT World Challenge Europe at international level, taking a win from 14 starts, and holds a win in the IMSA WeatherTech series from 5 starts in 2024 onwards. His endurance racing includes appearances in the 24-hour format; he took victories in the 24H Series and the Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie. Early in his career he competed in ADAC Formula 4, where he took 7 podiums from 28 starts in single-seater racing.[2]

Preining regularly races alongside established professionals including Ricardo Feller and Maro Engel. Against Feller, an ADAC GT Masters champion and fellow Platinum-graded driver who has raced 58 DTM starts, Preining has generally finished ahead. His record against Engel, a 2024 GT World Challenge Europe champion with comparable experience across GT and touring car racing, shows them closely matched. In endurance racing he has finished ahead of Kyle Kirkwood, an elite professional and multiple champion in North American formulae, on three occasions, and once finished ahead of Max Verstappen in the Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie, though Verstappen's single appearance there reflects only a guest entry outside his primary racing.