Timo Glock has wasted little time in moving on to the next stage of his racing career, suggesting that he already had a plan in place before agreeing to part ways with Marussia F1.
The German interrupted his grand prix career 'by mutual consent' on Monday [21 January], in order to allow Marussia to find a replacement who could contribute to its budget, but was immediately rumoured to have been offered the chance to move to the
DTM with BMW.
Glock has history with the Munich marque, and less than 24 hours after confirming that he was to forsake his seat alongside rookie Max Chilton, the 30-year old was confirming that he had a test lined up at Valencia's Ricardo Tormo circuit, where he will run against the majority of the 2013
DTM field over two days on Wednesday and Thursday.
The move to touring cars had already been hinted at when current
BMW driver Dirk Werner tweeted a 'welcome to the club' message to his fellow countryman, and an update on Glock's personal website on Tuesday morning carried confirmation from both the driver and BMW's Jens Marquardt, who worked with the German during his time with Toyota's F1 team.
“I have good memories of my time at
BMW Motorsport and am very excited to test the M3 DTM,” Glock noted, “Moreover, I will see some familiar faces from the past at the Valencia test, and I am looking forward to it very much.”
Glock honed his early racing skills at the wheel of a Formula
BMW machine, winning the ADAC Championship 2001 before moving up the ladder and reaching F1 just three years later. Although his grand prix debut yielded points as he stood in for Giorgio Pantano in Montreal, he had to wait another four years before returning to the fray, sharing testing duties at the
BMW Sauber team with a certain
Sebastian Vettel as he combined that role with a successful assault on the
GP2 Series. His F1 career covered spells with
Toyota and Virgin/Marussia, before being stopped after 91 starts.
“We are pleased to
Timo Glock offer the chance to see our
BMW M3
DTM in Valencia,” Marquardt commented, “Timo has proved his driving skills, especially in F1, over many years, and it is wonderful that he can now return to his roots with
BMW Motorsport.”
At this stage, the test is purely to allow Glock and
BMW to explore their options as the German gets to grips with the M3 DTM, but many believe that he will be added to the roster should the Valencia outing prove to be a success.