Martin Tomczyk reckons BMW will be immediately competitive on DTM return

The former Audi driver joined team-mates Andy Priaulx and Bruno Spengler, plus single-seater men Romain Grosjean and Marco Wittmann, for three days of running at the Spanish track. It was Tomczyk's first chance to try the car with which he will defend his title.

"I am very positive about this test," said Tomczyk, who turned 30 during the test. "Obviously this is a new situation for me: a new manufacturer, a new car, and a new team. You have to find your feet a bit first, but that took no time at all.

"You can see that we are all working towards the same goal, namely to be competitive in the first race. The strategy at the tests is working very well. Although this three day test was actually quite short, we were able to gain a lot of experience and we could use the knowledge gained immediately.

"If we continue like this, I have no doubt that the car really will be competitive by the first race. I personally had great fun getting to know both the BMW M3 DTM and the team - and celebrating my birthday here. It is great to learn something new. And it is even better when that new thing also works superbly."

BMW motorsport director Jens Marquardt was pleased with how well Tomczyk had settled in.

"We are very happy with this test," he said. "As expected, Martin had no problem adapting to the car and finding his feet in the team. This meant he was very quickly able to concentrate on the actual test programme. Overall, we can draw a positive conclusion from these three days."