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giugno 17, 2021 - ABT Sportline

DTM: Monza premiere for ABT

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It’s hard to believe, but it’s true: next weekend’s 2021 DTM season opener in the royal park of #monza (Saturday and Sunday live on SAT.1 from 1 PM CEST) will be the first races for Team ABT Sportsline on the high-speed circuit outside Milan. The trips across the Alps to the previous #dtm guest races in “Bella Italia” were always crowned with success for the title defenders from Kempten. 

So far, the #dtm has visited Italy seven times: three times at Adria near Venice, twice at Mugello in Tuscany and most recently twice at Misano near Rimini. And each time, the team led by Hans-Jürgen Abt and Thomas Biermaier brought trophies back to Kempten and even the biggest one on three occasions. 

Even before the #dtm era, there was a legendary appearance for ABT in Italy: Christian Abt won the night race of the German Super Touring Car Championship (STW) in Misano with the Audi A4 quattro in 1999. In the heat of battle, his rival for the title at the time, Uwe Alzen in an Opel, accidentally let him pass shortly before the finish line without much resistance. The jubilation in the ABT pits was correspondingly exuberant and the party after the important victory was a lively one. 

The first Italian guest appearance in Adria during the 2003 #dtm season was also a battle against the high temperatures with over 60 degrees in the cockpits. Mattias Ekström and Laurent Aiello coped well with this and thrilled the spectators. They came from behind during the final laps and scored a double podium for ABT Sportsline. Afterwards, there was one of the first paddock parties by the ABT house band “Fire & Ice”, which was always on stand-by at the #dtm races back then. 

In 2004, Mattias Ekström achieved the Audi A4 DTM’s first victory in Adria, which also took place in sweltering heat. It was the beginning of ABT’s 17-year joint success story as an Audi factory team in the #dtm with four drivers’ championships (2004, 2007, 2008, 2009), five teams’ titles (2004, 2007, 2011, 2016 and 2020) and 59 race victories. In addition, there is the drivers’ title in 2002 and a further eight victories as a private team from 2000 to 2003. With a total of 67 victories, ABT Sportsline is the most successful active #dtm team and second in the all-time leaderboard. 

In 2007, Mattias Ekström celebrated his 29th birthday at the #dtm round in Mugello and of course he got the obligatory cake to the face in the pits. On race day, the air was scorching with 37 degrees in the shade and asphalt temperatures of 52 degrees. Mattias Ekström had to settle for second place, because Mika Häkkinen was the only driver who had already completed his mandatory pit stop when the safety car came onto the track, which was triggered by one of his team mates, which caused wild speculation at the time.

Further information in the press release to download

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