Abt announces retirement from DTM

The German driver has raced in the series since it was reborn in 2000, but he has decided to look for new challenges in the future.

"I made the decision three days ago," Abt said on Friday. "It was a spontaneous decision, there were no particular reasons for it.

"I'm someone who looks for challenges, and I don't see anything else I can achieve in the DTM now."

Abt won the German Super Touring championship in 1999 before joining the DTM. While he never won a race, he admitted that one of the highlights of his time in the series was taking a second place at the Norisring in a one-year-old car in 2005.

The 40-year-old was keen to point out that he will not be retiring from racing entirely, although he is unsure what he will be doing next season.

"I decided I must set myself new goals," he said. "I will look at the possibilities for next year, but I cannot confirm anything at the moment.

"A lot of drivers go on to have great careers with Audi in other forms of racing, but I do not see myself driving an open-top prototype at Le Mans in the future."

Abt also admitted that he enjoyed living up to his reputation as being a tough driver in the DTM, although he feels that he was never unfair on track.

"I liked to play along to my image as being a tough guy, but I want everyone to know that I was always a fair driver," he said.

The former German F3 racer closed his press conference by stating that he will continue to push hard this season, in order to help the team run by his brother Hans-Jurgen secure the DTM title.

"When we set up this team we had the aim of bringing on young drivers, and we have done that with Mattias (Ekstrom) and Martin (Tomczyk)," he said.

"Now they are both at the top of the championship, and I will do everything I can to make sure we win that damn title back this year."