Starting from pole position, Preining put in a faultless drive in his Porsche 911 GT3 R, surviving two safety car restarts to lead into the final 10 minutes of the race.
A victory looked certain at this stage, with his closest rival Christian Engelhart circulating three seconds behind him in the Toksport WRT Porsche.
But then a message popped up on the TV screen out of the blue, revealing that Preining had been given a long-lap penalty for a pitstop infringement.
In an instant, the Austrian’s hopes of a victory were dashed and he was forced to take the alternate lap route at 50km/h, falling to third behind Toksport WRT duo Engelhart and Tim Heinemann.
Preining looked visibly dejected during the podium ceremony afterwards, even though he had played a key role in Porsche celebrating a historic 1-2-3-4 finish at the start of the German manufacturer’s second season in the DTM.
Preining’s mood on the podium left viewers confused as to why he was penalised for the incident, with the replay of his pitstop not pointing to any obvious errors. Even the ADAC document didn’t specify the exact cause of penalty, merely stating that the Manthey EMA team had broken the pitstop rules.
Now, it has been revealed that a Manthey EMA mechanic briefly left one of the rear tyres on the floor of the pitlane before Preining’s car came in for regular service at the end of lap 17. The rules stipulate that the mechanics must hold the rear tyres once they’ve crossed the line separating the garage and the pitlane.
Source: Autosport