DTM 2016 Preview: Abt Sportsline

Team Abt has been running Audi race cars in German Touring car championships for years. They have vast amounts of experience and have won no fewer than five DTM drivers' championships (2002, 2004, 2007, 2008, 2010).

Just as last year the four Team Abt cars will be ran under two different teams each with two cars.

Team Abt Sportsline retains double champion Ekstrom and Spaniard Miguel Molina. This looks like a very strong team that will prove difficult to beat in 2016. Ekstrom is one of the most successful drivers in DTM history with twenty three wins to his name as well as two drivers' titles in 2004 and 2007. Ekstrom finished third in the standings last year with two wins. The Swede is always competitive and will be one to watch in 2016. Miguel Molina may not be as competitive as his teammate but the Spaniard has been showing signs of progress taking his third career podium and first career podium last year, on his way to seventeenth in the points. He may not be a championship contender but he should be fighting for consistent top ten results.

It's a similar story at the other two car team named simply, Team Abt. Once again there is an experienced driver who could be fighting for the championship and a less experienced teammate who should be targetting top tens. Edoardo Mortara is entering his third season with Team Abt having previously raced for Team Rosberg. Mortara has finished in the top ten overall in four of his five years in the championship including three wins. Last season he finished fourth only four points behind Mattias Ekstrom, if he can carry that sort of pace into the new season, and there's no reason he can't, Mortara will definitely be one contending for the championship.

Finally we come to Nico Mueller, the Swiss has had two very difficult seasons in the DTM. After a fairly quiet debut season in 2014 where he only scored points once there were high hopes for Swiss to perform strongly in 2015. The season started well with a sixth place in race one at Hockenhiem bu after that his results dropped away and Mueller would only revisit the points five times in the remaining nineteen races. Practice pace was often strong and this pace was usually carried into qualifying but the promise of a great race result never happened and while it wasn't always his fault, the Swiss ended the season a disappointing twenty first in the standings. Maybe 2016 will finally see Mueller fighting at the front.

With two realistic championship contenders and an ever improving Miguel Molina the Abt Sportsline teams will definitely be ones to watch and have a great chance of winning the drivers' and team's championships. But with three fast teammates and a great car underneath him the pressure is on for Nico Mueller, he needs to impress and he needs to start scoring points.

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