Historic Racing: Audi A4 DTM arrives at Road America for the HAWK

By Johan Laubscher

The HAWK was held at Road America this weekend, an annual vintage racing festival which always attracts a huge entry list. Among the entries there was one very special Audi.

North American vintage racing is very healthy with a number of series, organisers and annual festivals/events. In recent years the Audi R8 LMP900 / LMP1 race cars, now run by private teams, have regularly been seen in historic racing.

At the HAWK this weekend there were no Audi R8 race cars, but there was the first appearance of another ex-factory Audi race car. A 2006 Audi A4 DTM R12 plus made its American vintage racing debut at Road America. The car is one of the Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline vehicles from the 2006 DTM season, and is an ex-Mattias Ekström car.

The car is now driven by Eric Johnson and prepared by ANSA Motorsports. It was entered in Group Ten of the vintage racing categories at the HAWK. 

This is just one of a number of Audi A4 DTM race cars which have ended up in private hands. They (2004-2007 versions) have been seen competing in many countries, including Germany, Finland, Czech Republic, Poland etc, and now also North America. It is always great to see the older race cars still competing, be it in active racing championships or in vintage/historic racing.  

Photo credit: Robyn Pass Handy from SascoSports