Toyota announced that Timo Glock will join Jarno Trulli in their F1 team - Panasonic Toyota Racing - for the 2008 Formula One season. Timo Glock and Jarno Trulli will race Toyota's new TF108 F1 car.
Toyota Press Release:
TIMO TEAMS UP WITH TRULLI
Panasonic Toyota Racing has announced that GP2 champion Timo Glock will race for the team in the 2008 Formula One season, joining Grand Prix winner Jarno Trulli behind the wheel of the new TF108.
The 25-year-old German has signed a multi-year contract with Toyota and comes to the team fresh from winning this year's GP2 title, replicating the feats of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg.
Glock's first duties will include joining Trulli and Toyota management in unveiling the team's 2008 challenger - the TF108 - on 10 January at the team's technical centre in Cologne.
"It's a great feeling to be a Formula One race driver again and I am really looking forward to this new challenge," Glock said.
"I have worked hard over the past few years to get this opportunity and I must say I am grateful to Panasonic Toyota Racing for having faith in me.
"From what I have seen of the team at the track I am confident we will be able to work well together to move forward. Even though I have not raced in Formula One since 2004, I have tested quite regularly so I expect it will take very little time for me to get back in the groove.
"I have been lucky enough to race and succeed in several different championships in my career,
but my goal has always been to become a full-time Formula One race driver. I believe this experience has made me stronger as a driver and as a person."
Although he has only contested four Grands Prix, Glock scored points on his F1 debut for the now defunct Jordan team in 2004 and has a wealth of experience.
He won Champ Car Rookie of the Year honours in 2005, before moving to GP2 in 2006 where he had
seven wins in two seasons, culminating in the 2007 title.
Panasonic Toyota Racing chairman and team principal Tadashi Yamashina welcomed Glock to the team, saying that he is convinced he has the potential to help the team move forward.
"Timo has great experience of motorsport in several different categories and he reinforced his reputation by winning the highly competitive GP2 Series, which we have already seen is fantastic preparation for Formula One," Yamashina said.
"He has demonstrated a fighting spirit and good race craft in GP2 so we believe he is the right man for the job."
Yamashina also announced that Kamui Kobayashi, a product of the Toyota Young Drivers Programme (TDP), will step up to Formula One in 2008 as the team's third driver, replacing Frenchman Franck Montagny.
Kobayashi has been associated with Toyota since 2001, and he first raced single-seaters in the Esso Formula Toyota Championship in Japan in 2002.
The TDP is designed to help young drivers achieve their ambitions to compete in top level motorsport.
Kobayashi's new role comes only weeks after fellow TDP member Kazuki Nakajima was confirmed as a race driver for the Toyota-powered Williams team.
