» Glock confirms DTM switch

Less than a week after being dumped from the Marussia F1 team’s 2013 line-up, Timo Glock has been snaffled up by BMW for the 2013 DTM championship season, having impressed the carmaker after a test outing late last week at Valencia.

The 30-year-old German had never driven a tin-top racer in his entire motorsport career, although he had previously represented BMW back when he was a test driver for the BMW Sauber team in 2007.

Glock becomes one of the highest-profile signings to join Germany’s touring car championship, following the departures of ex-F1 stars David Coulthard and Ralf Schumacher, who both left the championship at the end of the previous season.

“It is very exciting for me to drive for BMW again after all these years – and in such a top-class racing series as the DTM,” Glock said in the announcement.

“I had a fantastic time in Formula 1, but am now looking forward to battling for victories again with my old friends at BMW Motorsport. That is the approach I shall be taking to the challenge of the DTM. Not all former F1 drivers have found their feet immediately in the DTM. But I am using precisely that as my motivation.”

“We are delighted to have Timo Glock back at BMW Motorsport,” added BMW motorsport boss Jens Marquardt.

“The fact that he is now returning to the BMW family six years after leaving his role as test driver for the BMW Sauber F1 Team makes this appointment all the more pleasing. I am confident Timo will take no time at all to find his feet in the DTM and will give the fans a lot of pleasure.”

After a hugely impressive return to the DTM last year which saw BMW win the Drivers’ and Manufacturers’ championship titles, the marque enters its second year with two extra cars for Glock and fellow German racer Marco Wittmann. They will race alongside newly-crowed champion Bruno Spengler, Augusto Farfus, Joey Hand, Andy Priaulx, Martin Tomczyk, and Dirk Werner.