Abt Sportsline is an

auto racing Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. In North America, the term is commonly used to describe all forms of automobile sport including non ...

and auto tuning company based in

Kempten im Allgäu Kempten (; ) is the largest town of Allgäu, in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany. The population was about 68,000 in 2016. The area was possibly settled originally by Celts, but was later taken over by the Romans, who called the town ''Cambodunum''. K ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. Abt mainly deals with

Audi Audi AG () is a German automotive manufacturer of luxury vehicles headquartered in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany. A subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group, Audi produces vehicles in nine production facilities worldwide. The origins of the compa ...

and the related primary

Volkswagen Group Volkswagen AG (), known internationally as the Volkswagen Group, is a German public multinational conglomerate manufacturer of passenger and commercial vehicles, motorcycles, engines and turbomachinery. Headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxon ...

brands—

Volkswagen Volkswagen (VW; )English: , . is a German automotive industry, automobile manufacturer based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Established in 1937 by German Labour Front, The German Labour Front, it was revitalized into the global brand it ...

, Škoda, and

SEAT A seat is a place to sit. The term may encompass additional features, such as back, armrest, head restraint but may also refer to concentrations of power in a wider sense (i.e " seat (legal entity)"). See disambiguation. Types of seat The ...

—modifying them by using sports-type suspensions, engine power upgrades, lightweight wheels, aerodynamic components and more. It has been active in DTM for more than a decade. After the death of their father Johann in 2003, the company with 170 employees in their headquarters in Kempten was run by the brothers Hans-Jürgen Abt (born 1962, Managing Director) and Christian Abt. Since 2011, Hans-Jürgen Abt has run the company. From 2014 to 2021, they ran a team under the Audi Sport banner in the FIA Formula E World Championship for drivers Lucas di Grassi, Daniel Abt and

René Rast René Rast (; born 26 October 1986) is a Germans, German professional racing driver and the 2017 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters, 2017, 2019 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters, 2019 and 2020 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters, 2020 DTM champion. He last compete ...

. At the 2014 Beijing ePrix, di Grassi became the first driver to win an open-wheel motorsport race in an all-electric car. Ultimately, the team finished third in the first teams' championship. After leaving the championship in 2022, they returned without the Audi partnership for the 2022–23 season.

History

Johann Abt (20 December 1935 – 11 October 2003) continued a horseshoeing and blacksmithing tradition of his family, started by his father Johann Baptist Abt, with motor cars. He was a motorcycling and

hillclimbing Hillclimbing, also known as hill climbing, speed hillclimbing, or speed hill climbing, is a branch of motorsport in which drivers compete against the clock to complete an uphill course. It is one of the oldest forms of motorsport, since the firs ...

racer for the Abarth factory team until 1970. He is the father of Hans-Jürgen Abt and Christian Abt. He later entered cars with his own team, winning the "Trophée de l'Avenir" and many other series. Johann Abt's father founded the first Abt company in 1896. In 1991 Abt Sportsline GmbH was founded following "Auto-Abt". The headquarters moved to Daimlerstrasse in Kempten-Leubas and first offered about of space. In October 2002 an extension building was opened offering about extra of work space. Since November 2013 there is a third building giving the Abt Motorsports Department a new home. In summer of 2011 Abt celebrated their 115th anniversary since the first formation of the company in 1896. About 170 employees are working in the company's headquarters in Kempten, Germany, the products are sold in more than 50 countries worldwide. Since 2011 the Abt Lifestyle GmbH, run by Daniel Abt, organizes events for private or business customers.

Motorsport

After participating in a motorcycle race the company's founder Johann Abt started his racing career and the motorsports career of the company in general. Today Abt Sportsline is one of the most successful motorsports teams and has won several championships in the most important German racing series, like the Super Touring Car Cup (1999), the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM; titles in 2002, 2004, 2007, 2008 and 2009) and the ADAC GT Masters (titles in 2009 and 2010). Since 2004, Abt Sportsline is one of the official factory teams of

under the name of ''Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline''. The most successful year in motorsports for Abt Sportsline was 2009, receiving honors in three racing series at once: the DTM with Timo Scheider, the ADAC GT Masters with Christian Abt and the ADAC Formel Masters with Daniel Abt. In 2013, Daniel Abt was active in the GP2 Series and – beginning in September 2014 – he joined Lucas di Grassi as the second driver in the FIA Formula E Championship, where Abt participated. The German squad left

Formula E Formula E, officially the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, is an open-wheel single-seater motorsport championship for electric cars. The racing series is the highest class of competition for electrically powered single-seater racing cars ...

after the 2020–21 season. In May 2022, Abt announced they would be returning to Formula E for the 2022–23 season with

Cupra Cupra may refer to: * Cupra (marque), an automobile brand owned by the Spanish company SEAT ** Cupra Racing, a car racing team owned by SEAT * Cupra (goddess), a chthonic fertility goddess See also * Cupra Marittima, a commune in Marche, ...

as ''Abt Cupra Formula E Team'' after a season away, sourcing powertrains from Mahindra Racing. In April 2024, it was reported that Abt Cupra's powertrain deal with Mahindra will end at the conclusion of the 2023–24 season and will be using Lola- Yamaha powertrains for the 2024–25 season onwards, with the team entering the season as ''Lola Yamaha Abt Formula E Team''. In November, it was announced that Lola has taken over Abt's Formula E entrants' licence. Abt will continue to run the team operationally. Abt partnered with Cupra to enter the electric off-road racing series Extreme E as ''Abt Cupra XE'' in

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

. The team left the sport at the end of

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

but are open to entering the new

hydrogen Hydrogen is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol H and atomic number 1. It is the lightest and abundance of the chemical elements, most abundant chemical element in the universe, constituting about 75% of all baryon, normal matter ...

-based off-road racing series Extreme H in 2025.

Aftermarket

Abt has taken much of their racing knowledge and adapted it for the street, making the company a successful tuner for the full

line of products. Abt Sportsline has announced in 2015 that they are going to introduce their new tuning program for the European Volkswagen Passat at the

Geneva Motor Show The Geneva International Motor Show was an annual auto show held in March in the Swiss city of Geneva. The show was hosted at the Palexpo, a convention centre located next to the Geneva Cointrin International Airport. The Salon was organised b ...

. While hosting the new Passat, their goal is to showcase a more aggressive kit that includes a front lip spoiler, revised side skirts, a tailgate-mounted spoiler, Abt-branded floor mats, 20- or 21-inch alloy wheels with

Continental Continental may refer to: Places * Continental, Arizona, a small community in Pima County, Arizona, US * Continental, Ohio, a small town in Putnam County, US Arts and entertainment * ''Continental'' (album), an album by Saint Etienne * Continen ...

"sport-type" tires, optional mirror caps, sport springs and sports exhaust system, and a body kit that is more aerodynamic than the standard model. Aesthetics aside, changes in the Passat's performance include limited yet different 2.0-liter TDI four-cylinder engine with the capacity to be tuned to produce – an increase of over the previous model.

Notable cars

* AS4-R – A highly modified B7 A4 Avant, the ASR-R makes use of the

bi-turbo Twin-turbo is a type of turbo layout in which two turbochargers are used to compress the intake fuel/air mixture (or intake air, in the case of a Direct fuel injection, direct-injection engine). The most common layout features two identical or mir ...

2.7L V6 to produce at 6800 rpm, and of torque at 3300 rpm. '' Modified Luxury & Exotics'' magazine called the AS4-R, "a grocery getter that delivers," and said it, "handles like a toy..." * TT-R – A supercharged second generation V6 Audi TT. * R8-R – Not yet released, Abt's R8 will feature a

supercharger In an internal combustion engine, a supercharger compresses the intake gas, forcing more air into the engine in order to produce more power for a given displacement (engine), displacement. It is a form of forced induction that is mechanically ...

mated to Audi's 4.2L V8 for a total horsepower output of . * R8 GT R – A highly modified version of the Audi R8 V10 turning it into what Abt Sportsline calls a "motorsport champion for the road." The Abt R8 GT R features a tuned version of the 5.2-liter V10 engine, boosting the power from to . Many new exterior parts are made from carbon fiber, dropping the car's weight by . The interior features many modifications to make it more like a race car, including racing seats, a fire extinguisher, a 4-point seat belt, a rollover bar, and new steering wheel. Various other modifications make this a high performance road-legal race car.

Racing results

Formula E

;Notes: * – In the inaugural season, all teams were supplied with a spec powertrain by

McLaren McLaren Racing Limited ( ) is a British auto racing, motor racing team based at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Surrey, England. The team is a subsidiary of the McLaren Group, which owns a majority of the team. McLaren is best known a ...

. * – Driver was fastest in group qualifying stage and was given one championship point. * † – Driver did not finish the race, but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance. * * – Season still in progress.

Other teams supplied by Audi Sport Abt

Extreme E results

Racing overview

Racing summary

Complete Extreme E results

(Races in bold indicate best qualifiers; races in ''italics'' indicate fastest super sector)

References

External links

* {{Authority control Audi Auto tuning companies German racecar constructors German auto racing teams Auto parts suppliers of Germany Car manufacturers of Germany Privately held companies of Germany Automotive companies established in 1896 Automotive motorsports and performance companies Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters teams ADAC GT Masters teams German Formula 3 teams Formula E teams Sports car manufacturers Red Bull sports clubs and teams 1896 establishments in Germany Formula E Teams' Champions Super GT teams GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup teams Audi in motorsport British Touring Car Championship teams