Wednesday’s announcement by BMW confirmed the departure of 2011 DTM champion Martin Tomczyk – who has retired from driving to take up a role in the DTM organisation – and Maximilian Gunther, who left the marque to join Nissan e.dams in Formula E.
The absence of Timo Glock and Bruno Spengler from the Bavarian marque’s line-ups for the IMSA SportsCar Championship's Daytona 24 Hours season opener led to speculation that the two veterans might likewise have been dropped.
However, ex-F1 driver Glock and 2012 DTM champion Spengler were among the 19 drivers officially under contract to BMW for its 2022 programmes.
Although BMW has not yet clarified which of its drivers will be racing where in 2022, planning in this regard is believed to be at an advanced stage, including who will represent the marque in the DTM for the second year of the championship’s GT3 era.
Two-time series champion Marco Wittmann, BMW’s top representative in the standings last year despite his relative GT3 inexperience, is set to remain on board at Walkenhorst Motorsport, with the team planning to run two M4 GT3s this year as the elderly M6 bows out.
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GT3 specialist Sheldon van der Linde led ROWE Racing's attack in 2021 and is again expected to drive for a different team to Wittmann to ensure balance across the BMW line-up.
Philipp Eng meanwhile looks set for a DTM return after spending last year largely focused on BMW’s limited IMSA programme with the M8 GTE. The Austrian driver was part of the marque’s DTM roster between 2018 and 2020, winning a race at Zolder in 2019.
What is likely to be the fourth and final BMW seat may well go to Spengler, who has made no secret of his desire to return to the series.
Spengler last raced in the DTM in 2019 before being shifted to BMW’s IMSA programme in 2020, but Autosport understands the Canadian has been successful in finding backing from a former sponsor to secure a return.
Glock meanwhile is looking unlikely to be part of BMW’s DTM plans for 2022, which could mark the end of a nine-year spell in the series.
The 39-year-old struggled relative to ROWE team-mate van der Linde in the 2021 DTM, and it is expected he will focus his efforts on the GT World Challenge Europe series this year.
BMW's 2022 factory drivers:
Nick Catsburg (NED)
Jake Dennis (GBR)
Connor de Philippi (USA)
Stef Dusseldorp (NED)
John Edwards (USA)
Philipp Eng (AUT)
Augusto Farfus (BRA)
Timo Glock (GER)
Daniel Harper (GER)
Max Hesse (GER)
Erik Johansson (SWE)
Jens Klingmann (GER)
Jesse Krohn (FIN)
Alexander Sims (GBR)
Bruno Spengler (CAN)
Sheldon van der Linde (RSA)
Neil Verhagen (USA)
Marco Wittmann (GER)
Nick Yelloly (GBR)
