News

Difficult start to the 2024 DTM season for Manthey EMA

• In Saturday's race, Thomas Preining gained six positions to 10th place. Ayhancan Güven finished his first DTM race for the team in 14th place
• In Sunday's race, Thomas Preining and Ayhancan Güven finished 13th and 14th respectively
• A faultless team performance, quick pit stops and smart strategy decisions earn Manthey EMA 15 championship points at the start of the season

Manthey EMA kicked off the 2024 DTM season at Oschersleben. Reigning Drivers' Champion Thomas Preining (Austria) moved up six places to 10th in the season opener, and finish the second race on Sunday in 13th place. Teammate Ayhancan Güven (Turkey) took two 14th-place finishes. Overall, the reigning DTM champions' expectations for the first sprint race weekend of the new season were not met. A faultless performance by the entire Manthey EMA crew, the fastest pit stops of the weekend, and smart strategy decisions secured important points at the start of the DTM season, despite the lack of pace of the cars.

In the first qualifying session at the 3.667-kilometre circuit near Magdeburg, the 911 GT3 Rs were unable to keep up with the pace of the competition, ending 16th (#91) and 18th (#90) on the grid. Thanks to a strategic pit stop and a quick tyre change, Thomas made up five places and moved into the points. After a late safety car period, triggered by the retirement of a car in front of him, the Austrian finished the race in 10th place in the #91 entry. Ayhancan crossed the finish line in 14th place, and scored his first championship points on his DTM debut with Manthey EMA. He also benefited from a strong performance by the pit crew, who completed the fastest mandatory pit stop of the weekend.

In the chaotic early stages of Sunday's race, Preining improved from 17th on the grid to 13th. Güven, who had started from 20th on the grid, moved up to 17th.  Neither car was able to improve further until the pit stop window opened. Thanks to the team's pit stop strategy, and an undercut during the pit stop, the #90 car made up ground and returned to the track in 14th place, just behind the sister car. Both drivers finished the race in points from these positions.

"A very challenging DTM season opener for us, and we are not satisfied with the results of the weekend. On the positive side, we had the fastest pit stops and, combined with a good strategy, we made up a few places and scored points in both races. It was a flawless weekend for the whole team. The drivers did a very good job and were happy with the balance of the car and the progress we made over the weekend. Unfortunately, it was not enough to keep up with the competition. We will now have to analyse the reasons for this so that we can get back to the front at the next event.  The pace of the cars and the results of this weekend do not meet our expectations and do not reflect the capabilities of our team and our drivers," explains Nicolas Raeder, Managing Director of the Manthey Racing GmbH.

After the first two races, Manthey EMA is eighth in the team championship standings with 15 points. Thomas Preining is 12th in the drivers' championship with nine points, while Ayhancan Güven is 17th with four championship points.

The next DTM race will take place at the Lausitzring in four weeks' time, 24-26 May.

Quotes on the DTM Test and Media Days 2024:

Ayhancan Güven, Porsche 911 GT3 R #90: “The first DTM weekend is over. Certainly not with the result we expected when we came to Oschersleben. Nevertheless, we worked well together as a team and I felt very comfortable in the car in both races. In the end, I'm happy to have scored my first points with the team, but disappointed that we weren't able to fight for a top-10 result in both races. Now we will focus on the next race, analyse the weekend and see how we can improve. A big thank you to the whole team, it's been great working with everyone and I'm looking forward to the next race at the Lausitzring."

Thomas Preining, Porsche 911 GT3 R #91: "Based on our previous results at Oschersleben, we came here hoping to be very competitive on the track. However, the weekend did not go according to our expectations. We were actually very happy with our performance throughout the weekend. Ayhancan and I get on very well, which is very important for the rest of the season. We worked well together as a team and the pit stops, the car and the strategy were great. As if there had been no winter, we picked up where we left off last year in terms of the way we worked but, unfortunately not in terms of results. We lacked pace all weekend. But in the end we made the most of what was possible this weekend."

Results DTM Race 1 at Oschersleben:
10th : Thomas Preining, Porsche 911 GT3 R #91
14th : Ayhancan Güven, Porsche 911 GT3 R #90

Results DTM Race 2 at Oschersleben:
13th : Thomas Preining, Porsche 911 GT3 R #91
14th : Ayhancan Güven, Porsche 911 GT3 R #90