Johann Abt (born December 1935), who continued a horseshoeing tradition of his family with motor cars, was a motorcycling and hillclimbing racer for Abarth factory team until 1970. He later entered cars with his own team, winning the "Trophée de l’Avenir“ and other series.
Since the death of their father Johann in 2003, the company with 100 employees has been run by the brothers Hans-Jürgen Abt (born 1962, Managing Director) and Christian Abt who is also a race car driver.
After Christian Abt won the German STW Supertouring championship title in 1999 with an Audi A4, a quick decision was made to join the new Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters. The new Abt-Audi TT-R initially showed their lack of development time, but in 2002 the team celebrated the biggest success in the company’s history with Laurent Aïello’s title in the DTM.
In the 2003 DTM season, Abt Sportsline gave their 19-year-old apprentice Peter Terting the opportunity to drive one of their 470 hp (350 kW) cars, after the rookie had won the ADAC VW Lupo Cup series title in 2002. The young man could not really cope with the pressure in the professional competitions, though, but the move by Abt is remarkable anyway