Bruno Spengler quits Mercedes for BMW in 2012
| By Simon Strang |
Wednesday, October 26th 2011, 10:26 GMT |
 BMW has confirmed that Bruno Spengler will join it for the 2012 DTM, as revealed by AUTOSPORT in August.
The 28-year-old Canadian has long been linked to a switch from Mercedes - with whom he has won nine times in the category since making his series debut in 2005.
Spengler becomes the third driver alongside multiple world touring car champion Andy Priaulx and Augusto Farfus to be announced in BMW's DTM line-up as it prepares for its debut in the modern-spec DTM.
The German carmaker intends to run six BMW M3 DTMs next season under the supervision of three teams - Schnitzer, RBM and RMG - though it remains undisclosed who will drive for which outfit. Spengler's experience and standing within the DTM field (he has been a title contender for the past two seasons) will however be considered a boost to BMW's burgeoning programme.
"In recent weeks we have not only been developing the BMW M3 DTM, but have also been working on the driver line-up for our return to the DTM," said BMW Motorsport Director Jens Marquardt. "Outside our current line-up, Bruno Spengler was one of our top choices.
"Despite his youth he has a lot of DTM experience, which will greatly assist us during our development phase and on race weekends. For this reason, we did not hesitate when the opportunity to sign Bruno up arose. We have yet to decide which of our three teams he will drive for. That will be announced at a later stage."
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