Thomas Preining (born 21 July 1998) is an Austrian racing driver who is the 2018 German Porsche Carrera Cup champion.

Career

Formula 4

Preining's first season in single seaters was in

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the April ...

with German team ADAC Berlin-Brandenburg where he competed at the first two rounds in the ADAC Formula 4 Championship where he got a podium in only his third race at this level at

Oschersleben Oschersleben () is a town in the Börde district, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. The population in 1905 was 13,271, in 2020 about 19,000. History On November 23, 994 Oschersleben was first mentioned in a document by the Emperor Otto III. In 123 ...

. Preining finished the season with 16 points. Preining competed in another F4 championship in

where he raced at the first round in the

Italian F4 Championship Italian Formula 4 Championship is the first formula racing series regulated according to FIA Formula 4 regulations. The inaugural season was the 2014 Italian F4 Championship, effectively replacing the Formula Abarth. History Gerhard Berger a ...

at Vallelunga with German team

Mücke Motorsport Mücke Motorsport is an auto racing team based in Germany, which is also known as ADAC Berlin-Brandenburg. History Single-seaters Mücke Motorsport was formed by Peter Mücke in 1998 to run his son Stefan Mücke in the German Formula BMW AD ...

. His best finish was 10th. In 2016 he returned to the ADAC F4 grid for the full season but this time racing for Austrian team Lechner Racing. Preining would go on to finished the season with two wins and a further 4 podiums, this helped him to 4th in the championship with 180.5 points. Championship winner, Joey Mawson, finished 193.5 points ahead of Preining. Like with the German championship, Preining returned to race in the

in 2016. He only competed one round and his best result was 12th.

Porsche Carrera Cup Germany

In 2017 Preining made the switch from single seater to

Sports car A sports car is a car designed with an emphasis on dynamic performance, such as handling, acceleration, top speed, the thrill of driving and racing capability. Sports cars originated in Europe in the early 1900s and are currently produced by ...

where he competed in the 2017 Porsche Carrera Cup in Germany racing for

Konrad Motorsport Konrad Motorsport is an auto racing team initially from Austria, but now based in Germany. Founded by Austrian racer Franz Konrad in 1976, the team has mostly run Porsches, although they have also run Ferraris, Lamborghinis, and Saleens ove ...

. Preining won two races meaning he finished 5 points behind Christian Engelhart in 7th. Preining made the switch to his former team Lechner Racing for

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

where he dominated the season, winning 10 of 14 races and only failing to finish on the podium twice. He won the championship by 37 points over

Michael Ammermüller Michael Ammermüller (born 14 February 1986) is a racing driver from Germany. After competing in various junior formulae, he became a test and reserve driver for the Red Bull Racing Formula One team in the 2007 season. Following this, he repr ...

Formula E

Due to Preining's affiliation with Porsche, their

Formula E Formula E, officially the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, is a single-seater motorsport championship for electric cars. The series was conceived in 2011 in Paris by FIA president Jean Todt and Spanish businessman Alejandro Agag, w ...

team offered him a drive in the Rookie test at

Marrakech Marrakesh or Marrakech ( or ; ar, مراكش, murrākuš, ; ber, ⵎⵕⵕⴰⴽⵛ, translit=mṛṛakc}) is the fourth largest city in the Kingdom of Morocco. It is one of the four Imperial cities of Morocco and is the capital of the Marrak ...

. He partnered experienced French driver

Frédéric Makowiecki Frédéric Makowiecki (born 22 November 1980) is a French professional racing driver, currently competing as a factory driver for Porsche Motorsport in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTLM class. Career After competing in karting, Arra ...

. Preining's fastest time 1:19.374 which was almost 3 seconds slower than Nick Cassidy's fastest time of a 1:16.467.

Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters

In December 2021, it was confirmed that Preining would race full-time in the 2022 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters by driving the only Porsche 911 GT3 R car fielded by KÜS Team Bernhard. In the first race of the fourth round at the

Norisring The Norisring is a street circuit in Nuremberg, Bavaria, Germany. Originally established as a motorcycle racing venue in 1947 and named in a 1950 competition to win a light motorcycle, the track became known as a sports car racing venue in the 19 ...

, Preining scored his first win in the DTM, which was also the first win for a Porsche car in the series. His second win in the DTM came in the second race of the seventh round at the

Red Bull Ring The Red Bull Ring is a motorsport race track in Spielberg, Austria, Spielberg, Styria, Austria. The race circuit was founded as Österreichring (translation: Austrian Circuit) and hosted the Austrian Grand Prix for 18 consecutive years, from t ...

, which saw him starting from seventh position and making several overtakes on a wet track, before being able to maintain the lead as the track began to dry. Ahead of the eighth and final round at the

Hockenheimring The Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg () is a motor racing circuit situated in the Rhine valley near the town of Hockenheim in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, located on the Bertha Benz Memorial Route. Amongst other motor racing events, it has ho ...

, Preining was one of the five drivers who had a chance of winning the championship title. However, he was in one of the cars that were involved in a major crash during the Saturday race. Although he was able to extract himself from his badly damaged car, the doctors eventually declared him unfit to participate in the Sunday race. This left him in 5th place in the drivers' standings, with a total of 116 points. In 2023, Preining returned to the series for a second consecutive season, moving to fellow Porsche outfit Manthey EMA. In addition, Olsen competed in the 2023 GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup with Rutronik Racing, sharing a Pro class entry with Laurin Heinrich and DTM teammate Dennis Olsen.

Racing record

Career summary

† As Preining was a guest driver, he was ineligible toscore points. ^* Season still in progress.

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Complete Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Preining, Thomas 1998 births Living people Austrian racing drivers 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers ADAC Formula 4 drivers Italian F4 Championship drivers Porsche Supercup drivers FIA World Endurance Championship drivers International GT Open drivers ADAC GT Masters drivers European Le Mans Series drivers Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters drivers Porsche Motorsports drivers Mücke Motorsport drivers Walter Lechner Racing drivers Nürburgring 24 Hours drivers 24H Series drivers Porsche Carrera Cup Germany drivers Sportspeople from Linz