Secure A Last Minute Seat As A Driver At The Audi Sport ABT TT Cup

[source: ABT Sportsline]

More than 100,000 spectators at each race live at the track, comprehensive TV coverage on Sport1 with Patrick Simon as commentator and its exclusive position as a fringe event of the DTM: The TT Cup is a crowd puller with spectators and for the drivers it is also a great springboard for their racing careers: The winner can, for example, look forward to a place in the Audi DTM Young Driver Test. An Audi TT RS road sports car also awaits the winner, while there is a team competition with prize money of 20,000 Euro. Anyone still wanting to race in 2018 needs to be quick because the first events are due to get underway at the beginning of May.

participation fee: 95,000.- EUR per season (plus VAT)
minimum age: 16 years
required licence: international D-licence
format: 6 race weekends with 2 races each as DTM fringe events
victory prize: Audi TT RS and participation in the Audi DTM Young Driver Test

This race series will be held for the first time as Audi Sport ABT TT Cup in the 2018 season, after having been previously organized directly by Audi. The attractive setup has naturally been completely retained following the entry of ABT Sportsline– such as the TT Cup’s position within the framework of the DTM, the most successful touring car series in the world. A total of twelve races will take place on six race weekends. The first race already gets underway on May 4, 2018 at the Hockenheimring and the field of drivers is thus already relatively full. More than 100 requests from interested drivers were already received in the first weeks after the series was opened for applications. “The response has been fantastic from the very beginning”, explains Hans-Jürgen Abt, CEO of the worldwide largest tuner for Audi and Volkswagen vehicles. The Bavarian company is also participating for Audi with its own motorsport department in the DTM and Formula E.

The Audi Sport ABT TT Cup not only offers lots of driving enjoyment and the exclusive surroundings of the DTM series. The comprehensive TV package on Sport1 with 30 minutes of exclusive broadcasting per race weekend during the first broadcast in the late morning and early afternoon is also a real highlight. The action was followed by more than 6 million viewers alone on their screens at home last year. The race and television commentator is none other than the renowned racing driver and television host Patrick Simon, who adds a charismatic face to the series. Participants can also look forward to receiving advice and support from Le Mans winner Marco Werner in his role as coach. Engineering workshops, as well as mental and sport training, round off the package for drivers.

One-make cups with vehicles from the Audi and VW Group offer drivers a real springboard for their racing careers – as demonstrated by a number of drivers over the last few years: Good examples are the subsequent successes achieved by René Rast, Kelvin and Sheldon van der Linde, Dennis Marschall, Lance David Arnold and many other top drivers. The fact that three overall winners of the Dubai 24 Hour Race were former drivers of the TT Cup underlines that the Audi Sport ABT TT Cup provides a good grounding for higher levels of competition. Another bonus for the winner is a place in the Audi DTM Young Driver Test.

The attractive race calendar for this one-make cup includes the spectacular “Norisring” city circuit in Nuremberg, as well as a race on the Dutch North Sea coast at Zandvoort. “There is a nice mix of traditional race tracks that are popular with the fans, drivers and media,” says Hans-Jürgen Abt. The first race and also the final of the Audi Sport ABT TT Cup are being held at the Hockenheimring, where it was possible to once again beat the average number of spectators with well in excess of 100,000 people watching from the stands. And there is one more reason why both fans and drivers should not miss the 2018 season: The Audi TT – which was built for the first time in 1998 – is celebrating its 20th birthday this year and the opportunity to participate in such a special anniversary won’t come around again for a long time. The overall winner of the series even gets to take home the latest generation of this sports car icon as an RS model for road use. In addition, there is a lucrative team competition with total prize money of 20,000 Euro.