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A unique era will come to an end at the DTM finale at the Hockenheimring this weekend: after 25 years together in the DTM, ABT Sportsline will compete in Germany’s most important racing series with Audi cars for the last time. From 2025, the company will cooperate with the Italian Audi subsidiary Lamborghini in the DTM.
Hans-Jürgen Abt: “ABT and Audi have simply belonged together for 25 years”
“Our involvement in the DTM was actually born out of necessity,” recalls Hans-Jürgen Abt, CEO of the ABT Group. After the end of the German Super Touring Car Championship at the end of 1999, we suddenly no longer had a field of activity. The TT concept, with which we applied for the DTM, was created in a cloak-and-dagger operation. We then built three cars in 100 days and raced them for the first time at Hockenheim. This became one of the most successful and longest partnerships in the history of motorsport, which also shaped ABT Sportsline as a company. ABT and Audi have simply belonged together for 25 years. It’s a shame that Audi is not continuing its GT3 commitment.”
Abt-Audi TT-R from 2000 in the paddock at Hockenheim
An Abt-Audi TT-R from the 2000 season will be on display between the team’s trucks in the paddock at Hockenheim as a reminder of the early days. Laurent Aiello sensationally won the 2002 DTM championship with the compact coupé. It was the first of a total of ten DTM titles that ABT Sportsline and Audi celebrated together. 77 victories in 331 races to date, 258 podium finishes, 91 pole positions and 86 fastest laps complete the unique track record that makes ABT Sportsline the most successful active DTM team.
Thomas Biermaier: “Audi will continue to play an important role at ABT Sportsline in the future”
The current Managing Director of ABT Sportsline, Thomas Biermaier, began his career in 2000 as an intern in the DTM team and has experienced and helped shape all 25 years of DTM in various positions. “A connection like the one we had with Audi in the DTM is unique in motorsport,” he says. “We have endless memories of the races, victories and championship titles we shared, but above all of the many great people at Audi and Audi Sport who have been with us for more than two decades. We will continue to work with some of them, because Audi will continue to play an important role in ABT Sportsline’s vehicle refinement in the future. As far as the DTM is concerned, we say: Thank you, Audi!”
Harry Unflath: “Many Audi Sport employees have become friends”
“Many Audi Sport employees who have been with us over the past 25 years have become friends and we always enjoy meeting them off the track, too,” says ABT Sportsline Sports Marketing Director Harry Unflath. One of them was Volker Nossek, who supported ABT Sportsline in the DTM from the very beginning and passed away in 2021 at the age of just 59 after a short, serious illness. “We will never forget Volker and it’s great that his son Bastian is now working for us as a performance engineer in our DTM team. The current Head of Audi Sport, Rolf Michl, and the Head of Audi Sport customer racing, Chris Reinke, are a former ABT employees. This also shows how close the relationship between ABT and Audi was and is.”
Martin Tomczyk: “A farewell DTM title would be the icing on the cake”
ABT Motorsport Director Martin Tomczyk started his DTM career in 2001 as a 19-year-old with the Abt-Audi TT-R and won the DTM title ten years later as an Audi factory driver. Next weekend, he could become the first DTM Champion to clinch the championship from the pit wall. “Unfortunately, after two very difficult weekends at the Sachsenring and the Red Bull Ring, we are a long way off,” he says. “Fifteen points behind Mirko Bortolotti is a big gap and difficult to close. But those who know ABT Sportsline also know that we never give up and will fight until the very end. Experience shows that anything can happen in a DTM finale. We have prepared ourselves meticulously and are looking forward to an exciting finale. Of course, it would be the icing on the cake to give Audi another DTM title as a farewell present.”
Kelvin van der Linde: “It’s going to be a very emotional weekend”
In 16 of the 24 seasons with Audi in the DTM to date, at least one ABT driver has finished in the top three of the drivers’ standings – in the GT3 era from 2021, this has been the case every time. Kelvin van der Linde will be fighting for the title for the second time after 2021. “A DTM finale at Hockenheim is always something special – especially when the championship is still open,” says the runner-up in the standings. “Even as a child, I looked forward to it every year. I was eight years old when Mattias Ekström won his first DTM title in 2004 in the blue Red Bull Audi from ABT. He was my idol, and I am incredibly proud to be fighting for the title myself in a Red Bull car 20 years later. After ten years together, this will also be my last race with Audi. It will definitely be a very emotional weekend regardless of the outcome.”
Ricardo Feller: “I hope to finish the season on a high”
After the DTM finale, Ricardo Feller has further commitments in other racing series with the Audi R8 LMS GT3 evo II. “The DTM season has suddenly come to an end very quickly,” says the Swiss. “After last year, when I travelled to Hockenheim with a chance of winning the title, I would have liked to have had a more successful season. Nevertheless, I will give my best one last time at Hockenheim and hope to finish the season on a high.”
ProSieben will broadcast live from Hockenheim on Saturday and Sunday from 1 PM CEST, while Red Bull TV will show the DTM finale live in English on both days from 1:15 PM CEST.
Three questions for title contender Kelvin van der Linde
How are you going to approach the final weekend?
“I will approach the weekend in the same way as every other weekend this year. We will try to get the maximum out of our package and not make any mistakes. We have done that very well this season, even though we have never had the fastest car.”
How do you see the relative strengths at Hockenheim?
“Hockenheim is normally a track where all manufacturers are competitive and close to each other. The DTM fans can look forward to a mega-exciting finale.”
Do you like the Hockenheimring?
“I love Hockenheim! For me it is one of the best tracks for GT3 cars. You can take many different lines and the races there are always exciting and full of action. I like driving at Hockenheim and have always been successful there.”
Did you know that …
… with record-breaking gymnast Elisabeth Seitz and record-breaking Bundesliga referee Dr Felix Brych, ABT Sportsline will once again be welcoming exciting guests from other sports?
… Kelvin van der Linde treated himself to a few days in the Andalusian sun with friends before the DTM finale?
… The title contender tested his ABT Audi R8 LMS GT3 evo II at the Hockenheimring last week?
… Ricardo Feller, Kelvin van der Linde and Martin Tomczyk will be guests at a children’s press conference at the Audi Forum Neckarsulm on Thursday at 1:30 PM?
… Kelvin van der Linde celebrated a DTM victory at the Hockenheimring in 2021?
… ABT Sportsline has won 13 DTM races at the Hockenheimring so far?
… ABT Sportsline invited its top 20 dealers to the DTM finale at Hockenheim?
… ABT Sports Marketing Director Harry Unflath is pleased that all partners of the team will be keeping their fingers crossed for the guests and customers at the finale?
… Oliver Schwarz, managing director of Ötztal Tourism, is also attending a DTM race for the first time?
… ABT partner Ötztal-Gurgl will be promoting the upcoming Ski World Cup in Gurgl on 23/24 November with the original gondola of a cable car?
… Ricardo Feller and Kelvin van der Linde will be signing autographs at the gondola on Saturday from 11 AM to 11:15 AM?
… one week after the DTM finale the partners of ABT Sportsline will meet for a workshop in the new SAP Garden in Munich?
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