Glock set for new Toyota contract
Timo Glock will be rewarded with a new contract by Toyota in the wake of his second place finish in the Hungarian Grand Prix, autosport.com can reveal
Glock bounced back from his accident in Germany to secure his and Toyota's best finish of the season as he came home behind Heikki Kovalainen at the Hungaroring.
And although he had a difficult start to the campaign, failing to score at all before Montreal as questions emerged about if he would be retained, Glock's recent upturn in form has now secured his F1 future with the Japanese manufacturer.
They will now take up the option they have on him as part of the original muti-year agreement he signed at the end of 2007.
Speaking in Hungary, Toyota team principal John Howett confirmed that Glock would be retained alongside Jarno Trulli for 2009 even though nothing has been officially confirmed yet.
"As we stand here today, we intend to keep both drivers," Howett told autosport.com. "And I don't think that's ever been in any doubt to be honest.
"I'm just happy that he had a really strong race here. Jarno would have had a stronger race if he hadn't been caught behind Mark Webber because of a bad start. Overall I'm very happy we had a strong result today."
Howett believes that Glock's progress in recent races was purely the result of him getting on top of his qualifying weaknesses.
"Certainly from the moment he drove out of the garage on Friday he has been on it all weekend," explained Howett. "If you really look at his sector times from qualifying earlier in the season, he was struggling to put a complete lap together but generally showing he had the speed to do it.
"He proved to himself in Hockenheim, particularly on race pace, how quick he was and the fact he had an issue and he just continued from that point this weekend."
Glock's confirmation at Toyota now makes it almost certain that Kazuki Nakajima, who is a Toyota-backed driver and had been linked with a move to the main works team if Glock was dropped, will be retained by Williams for 2009.
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