“A true spectacle when the 530 HP push into the converter,” test driver Guido Naumann concluded: “The car behaves completely differently, with snappy steering and easy movements, and surprises with a very slight tendency to oversteering at corner exits.” The first measurement results also reinforce the subjective impression: “Up to a speed of 200 kph, the RS5-R is nearly one second better than the basic version.”
In the end, our RS5-R beats the production vehicle by an impressive 3.5 seconds on the Sachsenring. With a time of 1:34.84, it is now on a level with a 700 HP Lamborghini Aventador LP700-4 on the leaderboard. And so Guido Naumann has a summary that is not only conciliatory, but completely enthusiastic: “Abt has managed to improve the RS 5 in critical points.”
If this has piqued your interest and you want to know the whole story and what else distinguishes the ABT RS5-R from the production version, you can find the full test in the 10/2018 edition of AUTO BILD SPORTSCARS (in German). But that is by far not all: editor Manuel Iglisch also takes a look at the ABT RS6-E with 1,018 HP in this issue. How does hybrid tuning with an additional electric booster feel? Car enthusiasts can find the answer at their newsagents!