by Russell Atkins

Oliver Jarvis is believed to have signed on the dotted line to race for Audi in the DTM in 2008.

The 2005 McLaren Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year – who will be representing his nation in the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport in South Africa later this month – had been linked to a drive in the pan-European tin-top series this year, on the back of a stellar 2007.

Last year he claimed Great Britain's breakthrough A1GP success in Mexico, came within a whisker of clinching the Japanese F3 Championship title, triumphed in the prestigious Macau Grand Prix at the end of the year and tried out a Formula 1 car for the first time when he tested for McLaren-Mercedes at Silverstone.

The 24-year-old had hinted that he was looking at DTM, GP2 and Champ Car amongst other series' for the forthcoming campaign, but recently retired Audi ace Christian Abt confirmed the Cambridgeshire ace had agreed terms to join the leading tin-top championship.

“The young drivers,” the 40-year-old told Crash.net, when asked who he believed would shine in 2008. “There's [Martin] Tomczyk, Oliver Jarvis has joined Audi and he is very good, and (2007 team-mate) Alex Prémat for me is one of the top drivers in the DTM, along with [Bruno] Spengler and [Paul] di Resta.”

Audi refused to confirm the deal, with a spokeswoman revealing only that announcements regarding drivers would be made within the next fortnight.

"Unfortunately we can't confirm any of our new drivers yet," Stefanie Höcker said. "We are planning to send out the official release with all detailed information about our new drivers and their teams in the next two weeks."