Abt goes on youth drive for its Audi TTs

Last year's drivers Christian Abt and Laurent Aiello are retained and joined by two young drivers: Sweden's Mattias Ekstrom, 22, and 19-year-old German Martin Tomczyk. Last year's drivers Kris Nissen, who has been with the team for a number of seasons, and England's James Thompson have been dropped to make way.

"We are working towards the future and that's why we're giving two youngsters a chance," said team boss Hans-Jürgen Abt, whose team ran Williams-BMW Formula 1 star Ralf Schumacher in Formula Junior in the early Nineties.

Tomczyk, who raced in German F3 last season, said: "I was present at all rounds of the DTM last year and always dreamed of competing in the series myself one day. The biggest difference is that there are far more battles in the DTM, but I imagine I'll get used to it pretty quickly. Naturally, I have a lot to learn this season, and I'm thrilled to have such experienced drivers like Christian Abt and Laurent Aiello as team mates. I'm really excited about the first race."

The works Audi AG establishment is also supporting Tomcyzk, and will give him the chance to gain experience in the Audi sportscar project. "Martin will be included in our team and will take part in several tests in our R8 this year," confirmed Audi's head of sport, Dr Wolfgang Ullrich.

Ekstrom drove for the Abt team in the 1999 STW Cup, when he drove a third Audi A4 Quattro at the Oschersleben round. He has campaigned an ex-Abt Audi successfully in the highly-competitive Swedish Touring Car Championship recently, and has also tested for the Vauxhall BTCC team in the past.

"Oschersleben is unfortunately the only race track I'm familiar with in Germany," he said. "I'm really excited about competing against such big names. Since racing together, the contact between Abt and I has never been broken. To drive for this team in the DTM is the best thing imaginable for me."

The Abt Sportsline team is working to complete the four cars at its workshops in Kempten, Bavaria. The new drivers will gain their first impressions during tests with last year's car while the new vehicles, which will share the same wheelbase and overhangs as Opel and Mercedes for the first time, are completed.

"We know there isn't much time, but by the end of March we want to drive the new TT-R," added Christian Abt.