Next step on the career ladder for Thomas (Tommy) Preining: Having finished fourth in the 2016 ADAC Formula 4 and won two races (at the Red Bull Ring and the Nürburgring), the teenager from Linz in Austria has now been recruited as a Porsche Junior to compete in GT racing and will contest next year’s Porsche Carrera Cup Germany. He and Matt Campbell from Australia made it through the gruelling two-stage selection process organised by Porsche against competition from more than a hundred other applicants. Preining follows in the footsteps of drivers such as Timo Bernhard and Marc Lieb, both Le Mans winners and sports car champions who started their racing careers as Porsche Juniors.

In 2017, the 18-year-old will compete in the Porsche Carrera Cup Germany. In addition to entering their Juniors in racing series, Porsche pay an end-of-season bonus as well as providing support and training in the areas of personal fitness, sports psychology, media coaching and driver skills on every race weekend.

The son of the former motorbike world championship star Andy Preining, Tommy began his motor sport career in karting and finished the 2015 season as Rotax Junior European champion. In 2015, he made the step up to ADAC Formula 4, competing as a member of the ADAC Berlin-Brandenburg e.V. / Mücke-Motorsport squad. In 2016, Preining joined the Austrian team Lechner Racing and completed his first full season in the ADAC High Speed Academy. He was the only Austrian entrant to make it into the final classification, ending the year in fourth place behind championship winner Joey Mawson (Australia), Mick Schumacher and Mike David Ortmann (both Germany) with a tally of two victories and six podium appearances.