Timo Glock learned about BMW exit over video call

It was announced at the beginning of September that Glock and BMW will part ways at the end of the 2022 season, marking the conclusion of a 10-year partnership between the two.

Glock specially thanked former BMW Motorsport boss Jens Marquardt while announcing the news on Instagram, but there was no mention of Marquardt's replacement Andreas Roos in the post.

According to Motorsport-Total.com, this may have been because Glock’s exit from BMW was far from cordial, with Roos and another BMW manager believed to have informed the 40-year-old he won’t be retained by the brand in 2023 over a 10-minute video conference.

In terms of a parting gift for his 10 years of service, a second wildcard DTM outing of the year in the Hockenheim finale would have been the ideal farewell for Glock, having famously battled against Mercedes’ Gary Paffett at the former Formula 1 venue for victory in 2018. But the Bavarian brand is only understood to have offered Glock a chance to take part in the supporting DTM Classic category for retro cars, which he likely declined.

"BMW said they no longer have a field of activity for me,” Glock told Motorsport-Total.com regarding his split from BMW.

"And so, there was no continuation of the ten-year partnership, which is a shame, of course, because we built up something together over the ten years. It's a great pity to end it like this."

Timo Glock, Ceccato Racing BMW M4 GT3

Photo by: DTM

Roos explained that BMW couldn’t find a place to slot in Glock after completing a major overhaul of its factory involvement in motorsport in recent years. 

The Bavarian marque ended its works participation in the DTM after 2020 and exited Formula E entirely last year, and is currently preparing to enter the IMSA SportsCar Championship and the FIA World Endurance Championship with the new BMW M Hybrid V8 LMDh car.

"I can fully understand that Timo is disappointed or even frustrated," Roos told Motorsport-Total.com.

"None of us is happy about being told it's not going to continue, we have to be honest about that. I understand that too. But we also have to look at how things are going for us.

"At a certain point in time, we made a decision on what our driver squad could look like for next year. And at that point we made our decision and said that there is no future between Timo and us. 

"We had a great ten years together, we also discussed that with Timo. But we currently don't see a future where Timo could be on the road for us."

Glock not willing to retire just yet

Glock joined the BMW fold not long after the end of his Formula 1 career, and went on to become an integral member of its DTM programme from 2013, scoring five wins, 15 podiums and six pole positions during this period.

After a tough first season with GT3 cars in 2021, Glock moved to Italian GT this year with Ceccato Racing, but did return to the DTM as a wildcard at Imola in June and nearly finished inside the top 10 despite a slow pitstop.

Despite his stint with BMW coming to a close, the 40-year-old is not ready to retire just yet and is exploring opportunities to continue racing in 2023.

"I'm still very motivated to drive a race car," he said."And I know that I still have the skills to do so. I see that every time I sit in the M4 GT3 again."

Glock is also leaving the door open to return to the DTM, where he spent a total of nine  seasons and competed in nearly 150 races.

"I'm open to everything," said the German. "Whether it's prototypes - I have experience with aero cars from my Formula 1 days - or GT cars, we'll have to wait and see.

"There might be a possibility of competing in the DTM with another manufacturer. I'm not planning to hang up my helmet yet."