Christian Abt
Christian Abt (born 8 May 1967) is a race car driver born in Kempten, Germany, into a family of amateur race drivers and car dealers.
| Christian Abt | |
|---|---|
Christian Abt in 2008 | |
| Nationality | German |
| Born | 8 May 1967 Kempten, West Germany |
| Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters | |
| Racing licence | FIA Silver |
| Years active | 2000–2007 |
| Former teams | Abt Sportsline Joest Racing Phoenix Racing |
| Starts | 102 |
| Wins | 1 |
| Podiums | 9 |
| Poles | 2 |
| Fastest laps | 8 |
| Best finish | 7th in 2002 |
| 24 Hours of Le Mans career | |
| Years | 1999–2000 |
| Teams | Audi Sport UK Audi Sport Team Joest |
| Best finish | 3rd (2000) |
| Class wins | 0 |
His elder brother Hans-Jürgen Abt runs the Abt Sportsline Audi racing teams as well as their tuning company for Audi and Volkswagen.
Christian Abt started his career in motocross and then moved on to German Formula BMW. He went on to become the 1991 champion.
In 1992 he won the German Formula Three Championship B-Cup.
Driving a privately entered Audi A4 with the quattro 4-Wheel-Drive as this was banned for factory entrants, he won the German Supertouring Championship (STW) in 1999, the last season of this series, under controversial circumstances, taking the title only after the STW annulled the last lap of the final round of the Nürburgring.
Still considered as privateers, Abt entered the new Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters with hastily built cars similar to Audi TT. When driving an Audi R8 for Joest Racing at the 24 Hours of Le Mans that year, Abt called no other than Roland Asch to step in.