2011 DTM champion Martin Tomczyk will end his glittering 16 year DTM career at the end of the 2016 season.
The 34 year-old broke the news yesterday and cited his poor performances of late as his reason to end his DTM career. Tomczyk’s career has been faltering ever since joining BMW in 2012 on the back of his first and only DTM championship win in 2011. Tomczyk has failed to win a race for the team and 6th place in the standings of the 2014 championship is the best he has managed for the manafacturer. His results however went further downhill in 2015 where he finished 19th in the championship while 2016 is going in a similar direction for him with Tomczyk currently lying in 20th.
Tomczyk entered DTM for the first time in 2001 as a teenager with the Abt Sportsline team. He stayed with Abt for 10 years, racking up four victories for the team with his best overall finish being third in 2007, 10 points behind championship winner Mattias Ekstrom. He once again drove an Audi in 2011 but switched to Team Phoenix. This switch turned out to be an inspired choice as he went on to win the 2011 title taking three victories along the way. He then joined new manufacturer BMW in 2012. His first year with them held some promise but his results have taken a nosedive from then on.
Tomczyk hopes to continue his racing career in GT racing as opposed to touring cars. BMW are apparently attempting to cut the number of cars they enter into DTM in 2017 from 8 to 6 with Tomczyk’s fellow German racer Timo Glock being the most likely to get the chop.
