The race on the Lausitzring in the east of Germany began on Saturday at an overbearing 30° Celsius and just a light speckle of clouds. There was no way of cooling down in sight for the following one-hour race. The six Porsche drivers had not achieved the spots they wanted during the previous qualifying: Thomas Preining in the Manthey EMA Porsche #91 entered the race from 16th spot as the first Porsche driver. Directly behind him, Laurin Heinrich for Team75 Bernhard started from 17thn and his team colleague Dennis Olsen in the #90 entered from 18th spot. Ayhancan Güven came into the race on 20th spot for Team75 Berhard, while Toksport WRT newcomer Marvin Dienst started from 25th. The last in the Porsche ranks was Tim Heinemann in the #9 for Toksport WRT.

 

The race started out well for the Porsche Motorsport Customer Racing Teams: Directly after the formation round, all Porsche drivers managed to improve on their positions within the first few turns – Tim Heinemann even managed the jump from the 27th to 20th position. But while the Porsche Motorsport Customer Racing Teams managed to safely navigate the dense grid, two opponents stranded in the gravel bed. The result: Safety Car phase even before the first lap was run.

 

The accident that had initiated the Safety Car phase had its consequences. Even though Thomas Preining drove technically excellent rounds against the other teams in the best-placed 911 GT3 R to improve his position even further, he was forced to run three penalty laps due to his involvement in the accident. With that, he was forced to fall behind to the back of the grid and his team colleague Dennis Olsen took the position of the best Porsche on 14th spot.

 

More Porsche drivers bustled together behind Olsen: Ayhancan Güven #24, Laurin Heinrich #75, Tim Heinemann #9 and Marvin Dienst #99 battled it out on the spots 16 to 18 to get among the Top 15. The battle took a dramatic turn as Tim Heinemann overshot the first turn and therefore lost four positions. A few seconds later, the reason became evident: His brakes had failed. Luckily, that just happened mere moments before the pits were opened. Still, Heinemann had to retire from the race, Laurin Heinrich following him close afterwards.

After the pit stops, Dennis Olsen had reached 13th spot. But the Dane could not go in for the attack despite his good position and had treat his vehicle with care. Further behind him, Marvin Dienst, Thomas Preining and Ayhancan Güven were racing on the spots 16 to 18. Dienst and Preining were in close quarters behind the opponent on 15th position and entered a thrilling battle in the final 15 minutes of the race.

 

With just 10 minutes remaining race time, Thomas Preining finally passed the newcomer of Toksport WRT in the first turn. Just a lap later, he came for the vehicle on 15th position with his Porsche 911 GT3 R #91: First from the outside of the first turn, then with advantage in the following inner curve – with success. 15th spot for Thomas Preining despite the penalty at the beginning of the race.

 

Marvin Dienst also went in for the attack and followed a similar strategy. Sadly, that led to some contact. Both, Dienst and his opponent rushed across the green runout area and lost two spots. With that, Ayhancan Güven moved up to 16th.

 

The race on Saturday ended without any more incidents. Dennis Olsen and Thomas Preining drove in points for Manthey EMA and Porsche, while Ayhancan Güven and Marvin Dienst finished the race on the spots 16 and 18. Tim Heinemann and Laurin Heinrich sadly retired early from the race.

On the race on Sunday was looking up in terms of chances for the Porsche Customer Racing Teams. Thomas Preining #91 could enter the race from the fifth position, while Marvin Dienst #99 and Dennis Olsen #90 each started from the spots 11 and 12. For Team75 Bernhard, Ayhancan Güven #24 and Laurin Heinrich #75 entered from positions 17 and 18. The last Porsche in the grid on Sunday was Tim Heinemann #9 on 24th position.

 

The sun was still sweltering on Sunday and heated up the track. Right from the start both, Thomas Preining and Dennis Olsen came under strong pressure. Particularly for Preining, this race was important, as he was in the lead of the driver's championship. Due to that, he maintained a strong will even when the Mercedes-AMG vehicle attempted to pass him in the first turn. Dennis Olsen was in a similar position on a technical level on eighth spot, but he also wanted to improve on his position.

 

Meanwhile, Marvin Dienst had ended up behind Dennis Olsen in the starting bustle, and was being flanked by two opposing vehicles. He had a tough time getting out of this situation in the next few laps, as he was not willing to lose a position nor give up on the pursuit of the leaders in the grid.

 

During this time, the positions on the track were not safe due to the tight grid, but a similar picture to the previous day was painted for the Porsche drivers: While Preining managed to maintain his fifth spot, Dennis Olsen had moved up to seventh position. Marvin Dienst had fallen behind onto 15th spot, but was in a tight grid with good chances to improve on his situation. Laurin Heinrich had also dropped spots and landed on 21st position, while Tim Heinemann managed to maintain his positin and Ayhancan Güven settled in behind him.

 

On Sunday, it was Laurin Heinrich who would suffer an unlucky bout: As he entered the first turn, he could not maintain his line due to the packed grid and crashed into the vehicle of an opponent. With that, he fell behind a few spots – the crash was analyzed by race control and he was forced to perform three penalty laps, just like Thomas Preining on the previous day.

 

Simlarly, Marvin Dienst also had no luck: Roughly 15 minutes into the race, his right front fender began to loosen and his radio malfunctioned as well. So, he was forced to bridge the time to pit lanes opening without the support of the Toksport WRT team.

Right before the pit lanes were opened, Thomas Preining began improving on his lap times constantly and moved up to the back of the fourth-placed vehicle ahead of him – on the other hand, they were putting the third-placed car under pressure. At first it looked like Preining was attempting to improve two positions at once, but then both vehicles ahead of him made a mistakes. Both Lamborghinis contacted and slipped into the greenery, while Preining passed them unscathed and onto third spot.

 

Directly after this accident, the pit lanes were opened for the first vehicles and half of the grid entered the pit. Beside the time required for the pit stop itself, the new tires also influenced the following composition of the grid. With just 20 remaining race minutes, Thomas Preining was back on fourth position and team colleague Dennis Olsen on fifth. In the meantime, Marvin Dienst was on 12th spot, Tim Heinemann on 18th. Team75 Bernhard's Ayhancan Güven and Laurin Heinrich suffered another bout of bad luck: They were forced to quit the race due to damages.

 

Tim Heinemann #9 was in a good position to catch up to the vehicle ahead of him. Short before reaching the start-finish straight, he went for the attack against the Mercedes-AMG and both vehicles entered the straight next to each other. Across six turns they remained side-by-side until Heinemann conquered the 17th position.

 

The final minutes of the race relaxed slightly for the Porsche Customer Racing Teams – the gaps to the cars ahead and behind them were simply too big. In the end, the drivers finished on the following positions on both days:

 

Saturday:

12. Dennis Olsen, Manthey EMA #90

15. Thomas Preining, Manythey EMA #91

16. Ayhancan Güven, Team75 Bernhard #24

18. Marvin Dienst, Toksport WRT #99

DNF Tim Heinemann, Toksport WRT #9

DSQ Laurin Heinrich, Team75 Bernhard #75

 

Sunday:

4. Thomas Preining, Manthey EMA #91

5. Dennis Olsen, Manthey EMA #90

12. Marvin Dienst, Toksport WRT #99

16. Tim Heinemann, Toksport WRT #9

DNF Ayhancan Güven, Team75 Bernhard #24

DNF Laurin Heinrich, Team75 Bernhard #75