Ready to add a DTM Alfa Romeo to your collection?

RM Sotheby’s brings this 1994 ex-Christian Danner Alfa Romeo 155 V6 Ti to auction at Tegernsee, next week. The Alfa DTM racer is one of the most imposing touring cars of the nineties. The car, restored, is expected to fetch between €650,000 and €700,000.

Early nineties, the German touring car championship (DTM) moved from Group A to more liberal Class 1 rules. Alfa Romeo profited from its experience with a four-wheel drive, 2-litre 155 in the Italian touring car championship in 1992 to create a surprise for the 1993 DTM championship. The 4WD Alfa had to weigh just 20 kilos more than the 2WD competitors.

Despite extra weight handicaps, Nicola Larini ran away with the championship in his first year in the DTM, the Alfa 155 making the others look a bit slow.

Up to 11,800 rpm

For 1994, Mercedes caught up with Alfa. At a cost. The DTM was extremely popular – 100,000-plus crowds were no exception – but the development costs rose rapidly, and the international expansion of the DTM did not help. The Alfa Romeo 155 V6 TI received a sequential gearbox and active suspension, with an estimated power output of around 430 hp at 11,800 rpm.

Even though Alfa still won races, it was Klaus Ludwig who took the championship for Mercedes with the C Class.

TV Spielfilm

For 1994, Alfa Romeo had ten new 155s prepared by Abarth Corse. Three of those went to the works-supported private team Schübel Engineering, where former F1 driver Christian Danner was the spearpoint. Danner was behind the wheel of chassis ZAR16700000088171 in TV Spielfilm livery for all of the 1994 races. He was best of the Alfas in the third race meeting, the Eifelrennen on the Nürburgring GP track, finishing in second place. In race 2, he managed to repeat the result, finishing behind Larini’s Alfa. Danner would score another podium (3^rd) at the Misano round in Italy, not counting for the DTM championship.

Stefano Modena

In the end, Danner ended in the points on 14 occasions, but 9^th in the season’s standings must have been a disappointment. In 1995, Danner’s car moved to the Euroteam outfit. Stefano Modena used it in the first four races, ending the car’s career in the DTM with a fine second place at the Avus track. After that, the car was returned to Alfa Romeo, where it was put on display. In 2017, the Alfa was the subject of a full restoration by Fabrizio Pandolfi.

RM Sotheby’s brings the Alfa to its new Tegernsee auction (July 27^th), with an estimate between €650,000 and €700,000. A realistic estimate, showing the worth of these high-tech touring cars from the nineties. More on the car here.