Daniel Abt

Daniel Abt
Abt at the 2018 Berlin ePrix
Nationality	German
Born	(1992-12-03) 3 December 1992 (age 28) Kempten, Germany
Formula E career
Debut season	2014–15
Car number	66
Former teams	Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler, NIO 333 FE Team
Starts	69
Championships	0
Wins	2
Podiums	10
Poles	2
Fastest laps	8
Best finish	5th in 2017–18
Finished last season	21st
Previous series
2013–14 2012 2011 2010 2008–09	GP2 Series GP3 Series Formula 3 Euro Series German Formula Three ADAC Formel Masters
Championship titles
2009	ADAC Formel Masters

Daniel Abt (born 3 December 1992) is a German former racing driver. He has competed in such series as the German Formula Three Championship, the GP3 Series, the GP2 Series, and won the 2009 ADAC Formel Masters championship. He competed in the first four rounds of the 2019–20 Formula E season with ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport, however he was dismissed from the team after being found to be using a ringer driver in the sport's subsequent virtual races.^[1] He completed the remainder of the season at NIO 333 FE Team replacing Ma Qinghua. He is currently on a hiatus from competitive racing, having chosen to take up a broadcasting role with Sat.1 as part of their Formula E coverage.

Career[]

ADAC Formel Masters[]

Abt was born in Kempten, Bavaria. In 2008, Abt switched to formula racing and competed in the ADAC Formel Masters for his father's team, Abt Sportsline. He started from the pole position four times and clinched a third and two second places as his best results. Finishing the season in eighth place of the standings he was defeated by his team-mate Markus Pommer, who finished fifth overall with one victory to his credit. In 2009, Abt contested his second season in the ADAC Formel Masters for Abt Sportsline and with eight race wins commandingly clinched the champion's title ahead of Klaus Bachler. He took seven pole positions and a total of ten podium results. With 224 points against 90 points he clearly prevailed in the internal duel against his team-mate René Binder.

Formula Three[]

After running in the German Formula Three Championship as a guest entrant for Performance Racing in 2009, he switched to the series in 2010 joining the championship-winning Van Amersfoort Racing team.^[2] During the season Abt prevailed against his team-mates Stef Dusseldorp and Willi Steindl and had chances of winning the championship title up to the last race weekend. In the end, he had to admit defeat to Tom Dillmann with a score of 112 points against 120 points, and with two race wins and a total of ten podium places finished as the overall runner-up. After the season, he competed for Signature at the prestigious Macau Grand Prix. Abt was leading the race ahead of his team-mates Edoardo Mortara and Laurens Vanthoor but lost control of his vehicle and retired after an accident.^[3]

In 2011, Abt joined the Formula 3 Euro Series grid for Signature,^[4] finishing the season in seventh place after taking four third places as his best results. In the team, he was defeated by Marco Wittmann and Vanthoor, who achieved second and sixth place. Ahead of Carlos Muñoz, who finished in position eight of the standings, Abt was the third-best driver of his team. In addition, Abt was entitled to points in the 2011 FIA Formula 3 International Trophy where he achieved fourth place. At the end of the year, he tested for Audi in a DTM car.^[5]

GP3 and GP2[]

After setting the fastest time on several occasions in GP3 tests for Lotus GP at the end of 2011,^[6] the racing team that had provided the champion and the runner-up the year before, the team gave him a cockpit for the 2012 GP3 Series season.^[7]

On 19 December 2012 Abt got a contract to join ART Grand Prix in the GP2 Series in 2013 together with James Calado. Abt struggled as a rookie and finished the season in 22nd with only eleven points to his name, but remained in the championship for 2014 by moving to the German Hilmer Motorsport squad alongside fellow GP3 runner-up Facu Regalia.

Formula E (2014–2020)[]

On 13 February 2014 Abt was confirmed to also be racing in the inaugural Formula E season with his family associated team Audi Sport ABT alongside Audi's World Endurance Championship driver Lucas di Grassi.

2014–15[]

Having driven to 3rd on the podium in the inaugural Formula E race, Abt was penalised for illegal modifications on his car resulting being pushed down to 10th position. Abt achieved one podium finish, pole position and fastest lap in the 2014–15 season with 32 points and 11th place in the championship. Abt failed to live up to expectations in his debut season having scored 101 less than teammate Lucas Di Grassi having lacked consistency.

2017–18[]

Abt won his first race in Formula E in the 2018 Mexico City ePrix, after 38 race starts.

2019–20[]

In May 2020, Abt was suspended by the Audi team after a professional gamer played under his name in an esports version of the Formula E series. The announcement of his sacking came shortly after.^[8]

About a month later, Abt signed for the NIO 333 FE Team, replacing Ma Qinghua after travel restrictions disallowed the latter to travel to Berlin.^[9]

Hiatus from racing (2021–present)[]

In November 2020, Abt revealed that he had received an offer to race in the 2020-21 season of Formula E, but he declined it in favour of temporarily stepping away from motorsports. Instead, he joined Sat.1 as a TV expert and co-commentator for the channel's Formula E coverage that season. Abt was adamant that it wouldn't be "a goodbye to motorsports", but he felt that sitting out of doing any official racing for a year was "the right way" for him and that he was "looking forward to it so much."^[10]

Additional information[]

From 2008 to 2010, Abt was a candidate of the Deutsche Post Speed Academy.^[11] As the Academy's overall winner in 2009 and 2010 he became "Germany's motorsport talent of the year."^[12][13] Since 2010, Abt has also been a member of Volkswagen's talent promotion programme.^[2]

Personal life[]

Besides Daniel Abt, other members of his family are involved in motorsport. His father, Hans-Jürgen, is the owner and principal of the Abt Sportsline team which is active in the DTM and other series. His family also owns a German auto tuning company which primarily works on Audis. His uncle, Christian Abt, is a racing driver as well and was active in the DTM for a number of years.

Abt is managing director of Abt Lifestyle GmbH.^{[citation needed]}

Racing record[]

Career summary[]

Season	Series	Team	Races	Wins	Poles	F.L.	Podiums	Points	Position
2008	ADAC Formel Masters	Team Abt Sportsline	16	0	1	1	3	91	8th
2009	ADAC Formel Masters	Team Abt Sportsline	16	8	7	3	10	224	1st
	German Formula 3 Championship	Performance Racing	2	0	0	0	0	0	NC
2010	German Formula 3 Championship	Van Amersfoort Racing	18	2	6	5	10	112	2nd
	Macau Grand Prix	Signature	1	0	0	0	0	0	NC
2011	Formula 3 Euro Series	Signature	27	0	0	1	4	150	7th
	Macau Grand Prix		1	0	0	0	0	0	NC
	Masters of Formula 3		1	0	0	0	0	0	6th
	FIA Formula 3 International Trophy		8	0	0	0	0	44	4th
2012	GP3 Series	Lotus GP	16	2	1	0	7	149.5	2nd
	Formula Renault 3.5 Series	Tech 1 Racing	6	0	0	0	0	0	34th
	German Formula 3 Championship	Van Amersfoort Racing	3	0	0	0	1	18	14th
	Macau Grand Prix	Carlin	1	0	0	0	0	0	12th
2013	GP2 Series	ART Grand Prix	22	0	0	0	0	11	22nd
2014	GP2 Series	Hilmer Motorsport	20	0	0	0	0	27	16th
2014–15	Formula E	Audi Sport ABT	11	0	1	1	1	32	11th
2015	FIA World Endurance Championship	Rebellion Racing	4	0	0	0	0	2	28th
	24 Hours of Le Mans		1	0	0	0	0	N/A	18th
2015–16	Formula E	ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport	10	0	0	0	3	68	7th
2016	ADAC GT Masters	Bentley Team ABT	13	0	1	0	1	45	19th
	24H Series	C. Abt Racing	1	0	0	0	0	0	NC
2016–17	Formula E	ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport	12	0	0	1	0	67	8th
2017–18	Formula E	Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler	12	2	1	3	4	120	5th
2018–19	Formula E	Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler	13	0	0	2	2	95	7th
2019–20	Formula E	Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler	5	0	0	1	0	8	21st
		NIO 333 FE Team	6	0	0	0	0

Complete Formula 3 Euro Series results[]

(key)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	DC	Points
2011	Signature	Dallara F308/057	Volkswagen	LEC 1 Ret	LEC 2 11	LEC 3 9	HOC 1 4	HOC 2 7	HOC 3 6	ZAN 1 Ret	ZAN 2 8	ZAN 3 5	RBR 1 6	RBR 2 3	RBR 3 4	NOR 1 10	NOR 2 10	NOR 3 3	NÜR 1 12	NÜR 2 7	NÜR 3 7	SIL 1 5	SIL 2 5	SIL 3 5	VAL 1 10	VAL 2 10	VAL 3 7	HOC 1 5	HOC 2 3	HOC 3 6	7th	150

Complete GP3 Series results[]

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Year	Entrant	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	D.C.	Points
2012	Lotus GP	CAT FEA 13	CAT SPR 6	MON FEA 6	MON SPR 3	VAL FEA 6	VAL SPR 2	SIL FEA 4	SIL SPR Ret	HOC FEA 7	HOC SPR 2	HUN FEA 2	HUN SPR 11	SPA FEA 1	SPA SPR 5	MNZ FEA 1	MNZ SPR 2	2nd	149.5

Complete Formula Renault 3.5 Series results[]

(key)

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	Pos	Points
2012	Tech 1 Racing	ALC 1	ALC 2	MON 1	SPA 1	SPA 2	NÜR 1	NÜR 2	MSC 1	MSC 2	SIL 1	SIL 2	HUN 1 18	HUN 2 24	LEC 1 Ret	LEC 2 18	CAT 1 16	CAT 2 Ret	34th	0

Complete GP2 Series results[]

(key)

Year	Entrant	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	D.C.	Points
2013	ART Grand Prix	SEP FEA Ret	SEP SPR 16	BHR FEA 14	BHR SPR 7	CAT FEA 11	CAT SPR 8	MON FEA 16	MON SPR 22	SIL FEA 15	SIL SPR Ret	NÜR FEA 21	NÜR SPR 18	HUN FEA 24†	HUN SPR 14	SPA FEA 16	SPA SPR 16	MNZ FEA 17	MNZ SPR 22	MRN FEA 13	MRN SPR DSQ	YMC FEA 9	YMC SPR 5	22nd	11
2014	Hilmer Motorsport	BHR FEA 13	BHR SPR 13	CAT FEA Ret	CAT SPR 12	MON FEA Ret	MON SPR 17	RBR FEA 17	RBR SPR 23	SIL FEA 10	SIL SPR 11	HOC FEA 20	HOC SPR 15	HUN FEA 5	HUN SPR 5	SPA FEA 8	SPA SPR 5	MNZ FEA Ret	MNZ SPR 10	SOC FEA Ret	SOC SPR 13	YMC FEA	YMC SPR	16th	27

Complete Formula E results[]

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Team	Chassis	Powertrain	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	Pos	Points
2014–15	Audi Sport ABT	Spark SRT01-e	SRT01-e	BEI 10	PUT 10	PDE 15	BUE 13†	MIA 3	LBH 15	MCO Ret	BER 14	MSC 5	LDN Ret	LDN 11			11th	32
2015–16	ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport	Spark SRT01-e	ABT Schaeffler FE01	BEI 11	PUT 7	PDE 8	BUE 13	MEX 7	LBH 3	PAR 10	BER 2	LDN Ret	LDN 2				7th	68
2016–17	ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport	Spark SRT01-e	ABT Schaeffler FE02	HKG Ret	MRK 6	BUE 7	MEX 7	MCO 7	PAR 13†	BER 6	BER 4	NYC 14†	NYC Ret	MTL 4	MTL 6		8th	67
2017–18	Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler	Spark SRT01-e	Audi e-tron FE04	HKG 5	HKG DSQ	MRK 10	SCL Ret	MEX 1	PDE 14	RME 4	PAR 7	BER 1	ZUR 13	NYC 2	NYC 3		5th	120
2018–19	Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler	Spark SRT05e	Audi e-tron FE05	ADR 8	MRK 10	SCL 3	MEX 10	HKG 4	SYX 5	RME 18†	PAR 3	MCO 15	BER 6	BRN 6	NYC 6	NYC 5	7th	95
2019–20	Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler	Spark SRT05e	Audi e-tron FE06	DIR Ret	DIR 6	SCL 14	MEX Ret	MRK 14									21st	8
	NIO 333 FE Team		NIO FE-005						BER 18	BER 16	BER 15	BER 18	BER Ret	BER 20

† Driver did not finish the race, but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance.

24 Hours of Le Mans results[]

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
2015	Rebellion Racing	Alexandre Imperatori Dominik Kraihamer	Rebellion R-One-AER	LMP1	336	18th	9th

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results[]

Year	Entrant	Class	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Rank	Points
2015	Rebellion Racing	LMP1	Rebellion R-One	AER P60 2.4 L Turbo V6	SIL	SPA	LMS 17	NÜR Ret	COA 14	FUJ 16	SHA	BHR	28th	2

References[]

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Daniel Abt.

• Official website
• Daniel Abt career summary at DriverDB.com

Sporting positions
Preceded by Armando Parente	ADAC Formel Masters Champion 2009	Succeeded by Richie Stanaway