Glock returns to BMW with DTM test in Valencia

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Just 48 hours after confirming he will not race in F1 this year, Timo Glock tested one of BMW’s M3 DTM cars at Valencia in Spain.

Glock was a test driver for BMW’s Formula One team in 2007, but moved to Toyota the following year after the two outfits disputed his services. The matter was settled by the Contract Recognition Board.

Glock also raced in Formula BMW, winning the title in 2001.

Yesterday he sampled Martyn Tomcyk’s BMW M3 DTM at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia.

“If you race in Formula One for quite a long time in a single seater then you jump into a car with a roof on top is a bit different, the view and everything is different,” said Glock.

“But it was good I enjoyed it. For me it was great to come back, I know a lot of people here from the past, I started my formula career at BMW. It’s great to be back again and now let’s see how the test goes, the next day and then I hope we can go on together and find a way together for the future.”

BMW returned to the DTM last year and swept the board, winning the constructors’ championship and teams’ championship (with Schnitzer) while Bruno Spengler won the drivers’ title in his M3.

BMW have one unfilled place in their eight driver line-up for 2013. The ten-race season begins at Hockenheim on May 5th.

Pictures: Timo Glock’s BMW DTM test

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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28 comments on “Glock returns to BMW with DTM test in Valencia”

  1. He’s looking much happier already!

  2. Would be fun to have Glock battling it out at the front of the competition again.

  3. Surprised that Glock made such a rushed exit from F1. I would think that he had a realistic shot at a Force India test or maybe even a Caterham drive?

    1. @todfod As it seems they’re looking for drivers with budgets as well then he wouldn’t be able to get a drive for them any more than he could hold on to his one at Marussia.

      1. As it seems they’re looking for drivers with budgets as well

        I believe both teams have confirmed that they want paying drivers. Or perhaps confirmed it indirectly; I seem to recall Heikki Kovalainen mentioning that he was not negotiating with either team because they both wanted drivers with sponsors. He defiantely said it about the Caterham seat.

        1. @prisoner-monkeys

          believe both teams have confirmed that they want paying drivers. Or perhaps confirmed it indirectly

          So far only Caterham confirmed that they are looking for a driver with budgets. Force India did confirm that they are looking for drivers with speed rather than money. Heikki was not fast enough for them.

          And Jules isnt exactly a ‘pay driver’. The rumours of a Ferrari deal, if true, will only happen in 2014. No saying if Jules will still be with FI or if he ll do a Hulk move to Sauber.

          1. While FI might be saying they are looking more at speed then at money, I would be surprised if that was actually true.
            The fact they had wanted to announce their line-up around Christmas, but did not do so, hints strongly towards the remaining candidates now working with supporters to outbid each other in the money department.
            Its not about pay drivers, but more about all the team would be happy to have a Maldonado or Perez bringing both talent AND money to a team, after all the gamble at taking Kimi and making it work for you is not available for everyone on the grid.

    2. I would think that he had a realistic shot at a Force India test or maybe even a Caterham drive?

      I don’t get this – why do people assume that simply because Driver A is free and Team B has a vacant seat, Driver A joining Team B is a realistic proposition, even when there is nothing to suggest that either side has talked to the other? There has been absolutely nothing to suggest that Glock and either Caterham or Force India have approached each other, but ever since Glock announced his departure from Marussia, I’ve seen all sorts of rumours linking him to both teams based on nothing more than his availablity and their free seat.

      For instance, Force India are known to be talking to both Adrian Sutil and Jules Bianchi. Negotiations with both drivers are at such an advanced stage that the team is willing to admit to talking to them. Yet Glock has been a free agent for less than a week, and people seem to think that he can not only start contract negotiations with them, but that he has a “realistic shot” at joining the team despite the way the team has given “before the first test” as a deadline for finalising their line-up – which would give Glock less than two weeks to get a deal done when both Sutil and Bianchi have been talking to Force India for months.

      1. @prisoner-monkeys Of course they haven’t approached each other, he has only been out of a job for a few days! Granted, he probably knew what was coming but I doubt that would have given him much more time to find an F1 seat.

        You’re right, there was no chance with Force India, but (as far as I know) Caterham have said almost nothing about their second driver, other than he’ll need sponsors. But the experience of Glock and the fact that he has been racing in F1 up to last year would make him an appealing prospect next to a rookie, so it might have been worth him having a look. I think @todfod and I are just surprised he didn’t even try to stay in F1, even if the options were limited and difficult, and even if a front-running DTM car is the better option.

        In any case, it is just harmless speculation, so there is no need for you to over-analyse and write such a heated post

        1. I think todfod and I are just surprised he didn’t even try to stay in F1

          If we could ask Glock about this, I’m fairly certain he would say he tried everything he could to stay in Formula 1.

        2. @mvahahah, I think that PM is right here and that Glock had been looking at alternatives for a while and discussing with Marussia how to end their contract, which was announced when they reached an agreement.
          Without doubt that was only reached because Timo had a realistic option of an alternative employment (at BMW). These are not things that normally come up in just a couple of days.

  4. The very fact that Glock is back testing just two days after his exit from Marussia is a testament to his talent and shows how ridiculously easy it was to get him a seat elsewhere.

    I still hope he can join F1 back via Renault, Force India or the like..

    1. The very fact that Glock is back testing just two days after his exit from Marussia is a testament to his talent and shows how ridiculously easy it was to get him a seat elsewhere.

      When Marussia announced that they had to let Glock go, John Booth made it pretty clear that doing so was the last resort for the team. They had obviously known for some time that there was a chance they would be forced to drop him, and judging by Glock’s comments, he had known about it for some time, too. Naturally, he would have investigated other opportuities whilst working with Marussia to try and find a solution that would keep him in Formula 1. So I think the suggestion that he was racing for Marussia one day and testing for BMW the next is a little misleading – Glock had probably been looking at this for a while now.

  5. LoreMipsumdOtmElor
    24th January 2013, 10:33

    What a shame. That means no DTM for Alex Zanardi :(

    1. I believe Zanardi ruled out a DTM move several weeks ago.

      Also, this does not mean that Glock is going to join the DTM series. He’s just testing one of BMW’s cars for now.

      1. @prisoner-monkeys The fact that Alguersuari (who was also linked to DTM) is staying with Pirelli F1 for this year tells me that Glock is all but assured a BMW DTM race seat.

        1. @prisoner-monkeys
          Thou spoil the chat comments by commentating the comments thou commented. By the time I write this, thou just have wrote 1/3 of comment

          1. … What?

  6. Some months ago, AUTOSPORT published an article about the reasons why F1 drivers often fail in DTM. Three main reasons were mentioned – age, lack of motivation and the unique specification of DTM cars.

    Glock is still only 30 so he’s still young & strong. As for the motivation, he raced in ChampCar and GP2 after his first 4 F1 races, he has spent the last three years in an uncompetitive F1 car and was obviously ready to continue to do that in 2013. So he’ll probably be motivated enough if he gets a competitive car in the best touring car series in the world.

    So I believe that the biggest question mark is over his ability to adapt to the specific DTM machinery. If he manages to do that, he’ll be a big asset for the series.

    1. Did the Autosport article make anything of drivers coming the other way, i.e. successful in DTM and then coming to F1? Thinking about Paul Di Resta and Gary Paffet – both DTM Champions.

      1. I wouldn’t say Gary Paffet is in Formula 1, considering that he’s never actually raced.

      2. @TimothyKatz Yes, Coulthard, who is quoted in the article, mentions di Resta as someone, who could still become a successful F1 driver. He also mentions Fisichella, who started in DTM before his F1 career. Paffett is quoted as well but he’s been only a test driver in F1 and he just confirms that F1 and DTM cars are really different. I think their conclusion is that exceptions are possible but mostly successful DTM drivers ain’t successful F1 drivers and vice versa.

        I would post a link to that article but subscription is unfortunately required to read it.

  7. Is that the same test where we can find Robert Kubica, Jaime Alguesuari, Bruno Senna, Jerome d’Ambrosio, Oliver Turvey, Robin Frijns, Mattias Ekstrom, Jamie Green, Andy Priaulx, Bruno Spengler, Daniel Juncadella and so on? I wonder how they compare.

  8. Some video from Glock’s test is available here: http://www.dtm.tv/Index/Start/EN#

    1. Oh god, I laughed so hard at Paffet’s introduction.

  9. OmarR-Pepper (@)
    24th January 2013, 16:48

    It seems that DTM, as always, keeps being the retirement hohouse for former F1 drivers:
    “including well known former Formula One drivers David Coulthard, Bernd Schneider, Allan McNish, Jean Alesi, Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Ralf Schumacher, JJ Lehto, Pedro Lamy, Karl Wendlinger, Emanuele Pirro, Stefano Modena and two-time F1 world champion Mika Häkkinen.”
    Source wikipedia
    Any Michael Schumacher cameo there?

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