Di Grassi to Contest Final Two Rounds as Part of Abt Farewell

Lucas di Grassi will take part in the final two rounds of the DTM season with Abt Sportline, as a send-off to his long seven-term stint driving for the team in Formula E.

Di Grassi, who has signed with Venturi for the 2021-22 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, has been confirmed to drive an Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo at the Hockenheim and Norisring double-headers which fall back to back starting next weekend.

The No. 37 machine will be wrapped in a special red, yellow and green livery in reference to the design of di Grassi’s Abt-run car in which he won the 2016-17 Formula E title.

Di Grassi has driven for the Audi Sport-backed Abt squad in Formula E since the inaugural 2014-15 campaign but is switching to Venturi after Audi’s factory departure from the electric single-seater series to focus on the Dakar Rally and LMDh.

The Brazilian driver is poised for his first race appearance in a GT3 car since 2017, when he contested the FIA GT World Cup in an Audi prepared by Rutronik Racing. 

“We were thinking for a long time what we could give Lucas for his farewell and how we could extend our journey together just a little bit longer,” said Abt Sportline team boss Hans-Juergen Abt.

“That is how the crazy idea came up to enable Lucas to race in a DTM event, which is now even becoming two events with a total of four races.”

Abt already runs three full-time Audis in the German-based DTM championship for Kelvin van der Linde, Mike Rockenfeller and Sophia Floersch.