Christian Abt (born 8 May 1967) is a former race car driver and entrepreneur born in Kempten, Germany.
His elder brother Hans-Jürgen Abt runs the Abt Sportsline Audi racing teams as well as their tuning company for Audi and Volkswagen.
Career history
Abt started his career in motocross. In 1983, Abt became the German Motocross Champion. From 1986 to 1988, he won the German OMK Motocross Cup of the Southern Group in the 125 cc class three times. In 1990, Abt switched to four wheels with the ADAC Formula School and won the title.
In 1991, Abt won the Formula BMW Junior with a 29-point lead over the later rally driver Lars Mysliwietz. A year later, Abt finished 13th in the German Formula 3 Championship and was the overall winner of the B rating. Abt remained in formula racing until 1995 but was unable to achieve notable success compared to his first years. In 1996, he switched to touring cars and finished fourth in the family-owned racing team in the Super Tourenwagen Cup. In the following two years, Abt was placed in the midfield of the Super Tourenwagen Cup.
In 1999, Abt became the last champion of the Super Tourenwagen Cup in a controversial finale. Before the race at the Nürburgring, both Abt and Opel driver Uwe Alzen had chances for the title. At the end of the last lap, the order on the track was as follows: Kris Nissen (Abt Audi), Uwe Alzen, Christian Abt, and behind them Roland Asch (Opel). Nissen had already been lapped and was clearly holding up the following drivers. Asch had been disqualified earlier due to an incident but had not left the track. Alzen and Abt were in second and third place, behind Tom Kristensen (Honda). With this order, Abt would have been champion with an eight-point lead. In the NGK chicane, Nissen and Alzen first collided after the latter missed his braking point. In the last corner, Asch and Abt touched, causing Abt to retire. Alzen, who could continue with a broken suspension, would have been the champion. However, 24 days later, the DMSB Sports Court decided not to count the last lap of the race, awarding the championship to Abt.
In 2000, Abt-Sportsline entered the DTM as a private team. However, the performance of the Audi TT-R was significantly disadvantaged compared to the factory-built AMG Mercedes CLK-DTM and Opel Astra V8 Coupé. The same year, Abt finished third with Team Joest at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Abt's best overall placement in the DTM was seventh place in 2002. In 2005, Abt switched teams and got a year-old car from Audi Sport Team Joest Racing. After a mixed season in 2007, Abt ended his career in the DTM. In 2008, Abt started for Tolimit Motorsport in the Porsche Carrera Cup Germany and finished 14th overall.
In 2009, Abt won the ADAC GT Masters and was runner-up at the 2009 24 Hours of Nürburgring. With Team Prosperia UHC Speed, Abt was 33rd overall in the GT Masters. The following year, Abt took over the team and served as team manager until 2016.
In 2017, after a five-year hiatus as a driver, Abt finished third in the SP-X category at the 2017 24 Hours of Nürburgring.
Personal life
Abt has been married and has two children - Nina and Emely.
In June 2017, Abt ended his three-year career as a city councillor for the Free Voters in Kempten.
Christian Abt is not the only race driver in his family. His father Johann Abt started racing in 1952 with a DKW motorcycle.
His brother, Hans-Jürgen Abt, competed in the Ford Fiesta Mixed Cup and the ADAC GT Cup, among others. His wife, Margit Abt, was active in the Ford Fiesta Mixed Cup and the Seat Leon Supercopa. Their son Daniel Abt drove in the FIA Formula E Championship from 2014 to 2020.
Racing record
Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps Audi Sport UK Ltd. Stefan Johansson Stéphane Ortelli Audi R8C LMGTP 55 DNF DNF Audi Sport Team Joest Michele Alboreto Rinaldo Capello Audi R8 LMP900 365 3rd 3rd
Complete Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 DC Points 2000 Abt Sportsline 1 Abt-Audi TT-R 2000 HOC1 HOC2 OSC1 OSC2 NOR1 NOR2 SAC1 SAC2 NÜR1 NÜR2 LAU1 LAU2 OSC1 OSC2 NÜR1 NÜR2 HOC1 HOC2 19th 1 2001 Team Abt Sportsline Audi TT-R DTM 2001 HOCQR HOCCR NÜRQR NÜRCR OSCQR OSCCR SACQR SACCR NORQR NORCR LAUQR LAUCR NÜRQR NÜRCR A1RQR A1RCR ZANQR ZANCR HOCQR HOCCR 10th 29 2002 Abt Sportsline Abt-Audi TT-R HOCQR HOCCR ZOLQR ZOLCR DONQR DONCR SACQR SACCR NORQR NORCR LAUQR LAUCR NÜRQR NÜRCR A1RQR A1RCR ZANQR ZANCR HOCQR HOCCR 7th 15 2003 Abt Sportsline Abt-Audi TT-R 2003 HOC ADR NÜR LAU NOR DON NÜR A1R ZAN HOC 12th 3 2004 Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline Audi A4 DTM 2004 HOC EST ADR LAU NOR14† SHA1 NÜR OSC ZAN BRN HOC 16th 1 2005 Audi Sport Team Joest Audi A4 DTM 2004 HOC LAU SPA BRN OSC NOR NÜR ZAN LAU IST HOC 9th 16 2006 Audi Sport Team Phoenix Audi A4 DTM 2005 HOC LAU OSC BRH NOR NÜR ZAN CAT BUG HOC 13th 6 2007 Audi Sport Team Phoenix Audi A4 DTM 2006 HOC OSC LAU BRH NOR MUG ZAN NÜR CAT HOC 16th 4 1 - Shanghai was a non-championship round. † — Retired, but was classified as he completed 90% of the winner's race distance.
References
External links
Christian Abt Abt Sportsline company