Martin Tomcyk quits Audi
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Bit of a thunderbolt from a clear sky this morning – Martin Tomcyk has left Audi. This via @motorstv on Twitter:
“Martin Tomczyk has left Audi – no confirmation of where he’s going. Did not see that coming! Tomcyzk: “After careful consideration, I have now decided to accept a new challenge.” BMW it is then.”
Here’s Audi’s statement on Tomcyzk’s departure:
DTM Champion Martin Tomczyk seeks a new sporting challenge. The 29-year-old man from Rosenheim will no longer compete for Audi in the 2012 season.
“I won the Championship for Audi after eleven years together. The entire Audi Sport team and in particular Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich have always been behind me throughout the many years we spent together,” explains Martin Tomczyk. “I’m delighted that I could repay the trust by winning the 2011 championship title together with team Phoenix. Despite this joint success, and after careful consideration, I have now decided to accept a new challenge. To conclude, I would once again like to thank everybody with whom I have worked together during my eleven years at Audi Sport and assure every single individual that these years were, in hindsight, something very special.”
Tomczyk started his DTM career in the 2001 season as 19-year-old in Team ABT Sportsline with the Abt-Audi TT-R and was, at that time, the youngest DTM driver in history. In 2003 he became Audi factory driver in the ‘S line Audi Junior Team.’ Since 2004 he has competed with the Audi A4 in the DTM, initially for Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline and for the first time in 2011 for Audi Sport Team Phoenix. In his sixth DTM season in 2006 he finally recorded the first of his seven DTM race wins to date. By winning the championship title in 2011 at the wheel of a year-old car he achieved the greatest victory of his career up to now.
“It goes without saying that we deeply regret that he decided, at this moment in time, to seek a new challenge after his most successful DTM season with Audi,” says Head of Audi Motorsport Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich. “I can, however, completely understand that after eleven special years of highs and lows with Audi he would like to try something new – after all by winning the DTM title at the wheel of an Audi A4 DTM he has achieved exactly the goal for which he was worked so hard for many years. I’m personally delighted that Martin showed his many critics this year because I always believed in him. I can understand that to start he viewed the transfer to team Phoenix and a year-old car as demotion. But it gave, as I hoped, his career new impulses. I always enjoyed working together with Martin. He is a complete professional who I personally hold in high regard. I wish him all the best for the future.”
There were some rumours in German media last week but noone probably expected that the official announcement would come so soon. Last Wednesday Tomczyk said that an outcome should be reached in the coming two or three weeks.
Obviously he will go to BMW, although I would find it highly amusing if he were to join Mercedes right now. Or perhaps there is something even bigger on the horizon…
That’s a surprising move! At first I thought he would go to Mercedes but it does seem more likely he’ll go to BMW. It doesn’t leave Audi short of good drivers if Scheider, Ekstrom and Rockenfeller stay there for 2012.
The Mercedes driver lineup is looking a bit weak with only Green and Paffett being their best chances of wins/titles as things stand.
So let’s take a look at how the 2012 grid is currently shaping up. For now it seems that we will see 21 cars on the grid (6 BMWs, 7 Audis an 8 Mercedes cars).
BMW
Andy Priaulx
Augusto Farfus
Bruno Spengler
Martin Tomczyk
Dirk Werner
?Priaulx, Farfus and Spengler are officially confirmed. However, there have been rumours that Priaulx cannot deal with the new car at the moment so his seat might be under threat. BMW seems to be the obvious choice for Tomczyk after leaving Audi. Dirk Werner has already taken part in 3 test sessions and is expected to be officially confirmed during a BMW event in Munich on November 26.
Mercedes
Gary Paffett
Ralf Schumacher
David Coulthard
Jamie Green
Christian Vietoris
Susie Wolff
Nick Heidfeld (?)
Roberto Merhi (?)Paffett and Schumacher are confirmed and Coulthard has a contract for 2012 as well. Green, Vietoris and Wolff are likely to stay, too. It looks like Mercedes is the only option for Heidfeld but nothing is clear yet.
Audi
Mattias Ekstrom
Timo Scheider
Edoardo Mortara
Miguel Molina
Filipe Albuquerque
Rahel Frey
Mike RockenfellerEven though Audi has not officially confirmed any of their drivers, no more surprises are expected.
BMW has now officially confirmed Martin Tomczyk as their fourth driver in the 2012 DTM line-up. Moreover, it is known that Tomczyk will test the new BMW car from 6th to 8th December for the 1st time and that BMW will have in total six cars on the grid.
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