BoP trouble at Thiim: Why was only Thomas Preining shining in the Porsche?

– The frustration of mid-season champion Nicki Thiim was great: After Thomas Preining had threatened to withdraw at the Norisring due to the unfavorable Balance of Performance (BoP), the Porsche driver dominated in Oschersleben and would have scored the maximum points on Sunday without the pit stop mishap, while Aston Martin was at least at the beginning of the weekend nowhere to be found.

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“Maybe I should do that too – quit. Then maybe I’d also lose 50 kilos here and get more power,” Thiim grumbled on Saturday at ran.de about the supposedly unfair classification – and hinted at a connection with Preining’s threat. But was Porsche really favored in Oschersleben?

The performance of the other Porsche drivers speaks against that. Because while Preining completely dominated the free practice sessions, qualifying, and races up to the last pit stop, teammate Ricardo Feller and Land-Porsche youngster Bastian Buus had nothing to do with the front.

“Only partially satisfied”: Was it Feller’s qualifying?

Ricardo Feller was 0.424 seconds behind the pole time of Manthey teammate Preining in the first qualifying, which put him in eleventh place. On Sunday, the Swiss reduced the gap in the second qualifying to 0.319 seconds, which was enough for ninth place.

“I am only partially satisfied with my performance in qualifying, but very satisfied with my race performance,” is Feller’s conclusion, who finished tenth and eighth in the races and speaks of a “moderate” weekend. “It is always difficult to overtake in Oschersleben, but otherwise we had a flawless weekend.”

But how does Manthey explain the internal difference? According to Patrick Arkenau, who acts as race director at Manthey, Oschersleben is often underestimated because of its unspectacular layout. However, the driving style has a special influence on the very technical track with many corners.

Manthey explains why Preining was so strong

“You could also see very well in the race that we have a very special line choice and way of driving in some corners,” he says. “Tommy knows this, as he is now in his fourth year with us in Oschersleben – and it is Ricardo’s first year. Our approach to training the drivers to drive exactly like this is also quite special.”

In addition, Oschersleben is one of Preining’s absolute favorite tracks and, according to Arkenau, he has “perfected” his driving style there. “By very small changes, very precise and delicate driving, you can make a very big difference in Oschersleben,” explains Arkenau.

That was “a very big motivation” for Preining – and he “executed it to perfection. That’s why the gap is also relatively large between the three Porsche drivers.”

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Preining: “Nowhere on the planet have I driven as much as here”

Feller did improve over the course of the weekend and the difference “became smaller especially in qualifying,” the Manthey race director also notices. “But Tommy has a three-year advantage. And I think that is also the secret to his success why he was so good this weekend.”

Preining himself makes it clear that he knows Oschersleben inside and out not only in the Porsche. “I feel like I have driven millions of laps here since Formula 4 – more than anywhere else on this planet. I drove my first race here in a car,” the Austrian refers to his Formula 4 debut in April 2015.

That gives confidence, especially since the track is made for the Porsche. “The slow corners, the narrow track – all of that helps us and plays into our hands,” Preining knows. All the more surprising is that the “Grello” ace only celebrated his first win in Oschersleben in his seventh DTM start.

Why the Land team couldn’t bother Preining this time

But why didn’t the Land team with Bastian Buus, which has already annoyed Manthey several times this season, really get going in Oschersleben? On Saturday, the Danish talent was 0.568 seconds behind Preining’s pole, which was enough for 15th place, and on Sunday he came closer with 0.387 seconds behind in 13th place. In the races, he finished 14th and eleventh.

“Considering our starting position, we are satisfied with how we were able to reduce our gap to the front,” explains team boss Christian Land. “For both us and Bastian, it was the first race weekend with the Porsche 911 GT3 R on this track. There was no test beforehand.”

As a result, the traditional team from the Westerwald only had Friday, on which according to information from Motorsport-Total.com the steering had to be changed, “to adapt to the course, while most of the competition has significantly more GT3 experience in Oschersleben,” he clarifies.

So was the Porsche rated too well? That can’t really be clarified from the outside. It cannot be ruled out that this time it was an extraordinary driver-team performance that made the difference.

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