Timo Glock has moved one step closer to a race seat in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters after securing a test with BMW later this week. Glock, who left F1 team Marussia earlier this week, is widely tipped to join the German series.
Glock, 30, was released from his contract with Formula One team Marussia on Monday, after having spent three season with the team. Prior to that he competed as a works Toyota driver between 2008 and 2009. Glock made his F1 debut back in 2004 at the wheel of a Jordan in the final three events of the season and has since racked up 91 starts in the championship.
The German driver will get his first taste of BMW DTM machinery in BMW Motorsport’s first test of the year in Valencia, Spain around the Circuit de la Communitat.
“We are pleased to be able to offer Timo Glock the opportunity to get to know our BMW M3 DTM in Valencia,” said Jens Marquardt, Director of BMW Motorsport. “Timo has demonstrated his driving ability over many years, particularly in Formula One. It is made all the nicer by the fact that he is, to a certain degree, returning to his roots in testing for BMW Motorsport.”
“I have fond memories of my time with BMW Motorsport and am very excited about testing the BMW M3 DTM,” said Glock. “Furthermore, I am bound to see a few familiar faces in Valencia from my previous time with BMW. I am really looking forward to it.”
Glock developed his single-seater career at the wheel of BMW machinery, competing in Formula BMW ADAC series in 2000 and 2001, which he went on to win in ’01. He then moved into German and European Formula 3, before making the step up to F1 in 2004. Between 2005 and 2007 Glock competed in the Champ Car World Series, before moving onto GP2 in ”06 and ’07. He made a brief return to BMW in 2007, becoming an official test driver for the BMW Sauber F1 team. Returning to F1 from 2008 onwards with Toyota and latterly Marrusia, Glock scored a best-ever finish of second at the 2008 Hungarian and 2009 Singapore Grand Prix’s respectively.