Press release
245KB
september 14, 2021 - ABT Sportline
Worth a trip for ABT Sportsline celebrating 20 years: DTM in the Netherlands
More than 800 kilometers separate Kempten from the famous “Temple of Speed” at #assen in the Dutch province of Drenthe, which will be the venue for the third-last #dtm weekend of the season this coming weekend (Saturday and Sunday live on SAT.1 and ran.de from 1 PM CEST). Despite the long journey, the anticipation in the ABT Sportsline team is always particularly high when #dtm races are held in the #netherlands.
For 20 years, the #netherlands has been a fixture on the #dtm calendar – from 2001 to 2018 at Zandvoort on the North Sea coast and at #assen since 2019, the famous motorbike race track that also guarantees spectacular car races. The “long-distance trips” to the DTM in the #netherlands have almost always paid off for the team led by Hans-Jürgen Abt and Thomas Biermaier: only twice so far have they returned home to the Allgäu without any trophies.
ABT Sportsline’s proud record in the #netherlands: 27 podiums in 26 races. Eight victories. In 2008, a historic 1-2-3-4 success – and last but not least, the emotional first #dtm title won by a private team on September 29, 2002.
Even the first Zandvoort entry in the 2001 season has a permanent place in the company’s history: Hans-Jürgen Abt’s brother, Christian, only narrowly missed his first victory in the #dtm in a spectacular race. Starting from pole position, he led the field with the compact Abt Audi TT-R until a few hundred meters before the finish, when Mercedes driver Uwe Alzen squeezed past Abt with a robust maneuver on the last lap. After crossing the finish line, heated discussions followed.
In 2002, Mattias Ekström celebrated the first of his four Zandvoort victories with ABT Sportsline. It was also the Swede’s first success in the #dtm. But that was secondary, because Laurent Aiello clinched the DTM title early that day, making a dream come true: As a small private team, ABT Sportsline had won the #dtm with a self-developed car, sensationally beating the factory teams from Mercedes and Opel.
Subsequently, Zandvoort was almost always a good place for ABT Sportsline – also thanks to the basic philosophy of the Audi A4 DTM, which was made for the dune circuit. And, as usual, the ABT team made the most of the opportunities – similar to the Audi R8 LMS in the 2021 #dtm season.
Zandvoort in 2008 is unforgettable: back then, ABT Sportsline took the first four places with its four Audi A4 #dtm cars. Two of the drivers back then are today’s SAT.1 #dtm experts: Timo Scheider and Martin Tomczyk.
Tomczyk won for ABT Sportsline in the #netherlands in 2007, Le Mans record winner Tom Kristensen in 2006. In 2011, Mike Rockenfeller celebrated his first victory in the #dtm at Zandvoort with the ABT Sportsline team. Also for “Rocky”, the #netherlands is always worth a trip: in 2013, he crowned himself as the #dtm champion early at Zandvoort. In 2019, he won at #assen with a daring strategy that underpinned his reputation as a “tire whisperer”. Tires played a crucial role in the short Class 1 era of the #dtm at #assen.
However, a #dtm race in the #netherlands also cost ABT Sportsline another possible #dtm drivers’ title: in 2016, Edoardo Mortara was given a drive-through penalty by race control at Zandvoort for an alleged violation of the slow zone rules. That same evening, the officials admitted to discrepancies in the official GPS system. Mortara still lost at least eight points. At the end of the season, the Italian was only four points behind champion Marco Wittmann.
The #dtm has held four races at #assen so far. Each time, at least one driver from ABT Sportsline has been on the podium. In 2020, the team even celebrated two double podiums and Robin Frijns’ first #dtm triumph on Saturday. The charming consequence: On Sunday, Maike Frik stood on the grid as a “grid girl” in front of her partner’s car, thus keeping a promise she had made to her sweetheart the year before for his first #dtm victory. Despite heavy rain, Maike, who was responsible for organization in the ABT Sportsline team last year, kept her promise.
Water also played a role in another success of ABT Sportsline in the #netherlands: Martin Tomczyk won a paper boat race organized by Audi in 2006 with the “Abt Allgäu IV” built by the ABT mechanics. Le Mans record winner Tom Kristensen sank in that race and afterwards said that the word “understeer” had taken on a whole new meaning ...
Sinking is not on the agenda for Team ABT Sportsline after the recent difficult weekend at the Red Bull Ring. For Kelvin van der Linde, it’s all about defending his lead in the drivers’ championship once again at his #assen debut. In the teams’ standings, ABT Sportsline wants to return to the top of the classification.
Further information in the press release to download
00 MC1 4724
4326x2884, 2MB
01 DTM Nuerburgring-2021-3236
4960x3307, 3MB
02 DTM521 08717TU TU
4488x2992, 2MB
03 ABT DTM Lausitzring 2021 018
4724x3149, 3MB
04 ABT DTM Lausitzring 2021 037
4724x3149, 2MB
05 2021-DTM-05-Suer-2132
3840x2560, 1MB
06 ABT DTM MONZA 2021 207
3600x2401, 5MB
07 DTM Monza 210620-82
3600x2401, 3MB
08 Zandvoort 2002
3072x2048, 975KB
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