After an enforced three-year break following the demise of the Class 1 Touring Cars series, the DTM returned in 2000 and was duly relaunched as the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters. New regulations mandated rear-wheel-drive, tubular-framed “silhouette” cars powered by 4.0-litre V-8 engines but outlawed the costly hi-tech driver aids that led to the downfall of the previous incarnation of the series. The Championship was due to be contested across nine race weekends with each comprising two 100-kilometre races of equal points-scoring value.

Mercedes-Benz and Opel lent the series welcome manufacturer support and the former campaigned its CLK-DTM model, while Opel entered its V-8-powered Astra DTM coupé. In contrast, Audi was represented only in a semi-official capacity. The Abt Sportsline team—who won the Super Tourenwagen Cup for Audi in 1999—entered four TT-Rs for Laurent Aïello, Kris Nissen, James Thompson, and team co-owner Christian Abt (with Roland Asch competing in a single round). The TT-R featured a tubular frame and integrated roll cage produced by the British Foss-tech concern, while its 460 PS V-8 engine was supplied by Heini Mader, and its six-speed sequential gearbox by Xtrac.

The first half of the season proved challenging, with five non-starts and 10 race retirements blunting Abt’s assault. However, team leader Aïello—at the wheel of the car offered here, which raced under the number “9”—produced a solid performance at the Nürburgring in August to finish 11th, just missing out on a solitary Championship point.

An inspired drive by the Frenchman in the first race at Oschersleben in September ended with him finishing 5th, after qualifying only 18th, while a return to the Nürburgring in October yielded a double-points-paying finish, with 9th in the first race and 7th in the second. At the season’s end, Aïello finished as the top Audi racer, just one point behind former Formula 1 driver Stefano Modena’s Opel and five adrift of Mercedes-mounted former McLaren test driver Darren Turner.

In 2001, chassis TT-R 00.01 was sold to a German collector who retained it until 2010. Subsequently passing into Italian ownership, a rebuild was embarked upon in 2020, which included overhauling the engine and gearbox. Following some 180 kilometres of testing, the car passed into the present ownership in 2022. According to the vendor, a mere 300 kilometres of additional testing has been covered since, reportedly between the consigning owner and the 2001 FIA GT champion, Jean-Philippe Belloc.

Today, the TT-R remains a spectacular example of this most distinctive and idiosyncratic of DTM contenders. Furthermore, in view of the DTM title subsequently secured by Aïello in 2002 at the wheel of a revised TT-R, it may be viewed as the genesis of this victorious programme, making this a car of considerable historical relevance.