German GP 2008 – A Home Run For Timo

Since the season began back in March, Timo has developed a great relationship with the team, who of course work hand in hand with him to get maximum performance from the TF108. Timo won at the circuit as recently as 2006, in his first season of GP2. He has already shown everyone at Panasonic Toyota Racing the talent which saw him crowned GP2 champion in 2007 and his ability and work rate has quickly impressed his team-mates. Image Credit: Panasonic Toyota Racing

German GP 2008 – A Home Run For Timo

Please excuse the baseball reference, but the fact that Timo Glock has had a history driving in ChampCar throughout North America it just felt appropriate.

This excerpted from Wikipedia –

In 2005, Glock shifted his racing career to the United States, racing in the Champ Car World Series with Paul Gentilozzi's Rocketsports team.

His best finish of the year was a second place finish at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal on August 28, where he was defeated by Oriol Servia.

In the closing laps of the race Glock twice managed to retain the lead over Servia by missing the track's final chicane. As the rules require drivers who blatantly gain or retain a position by driving off the racing surface to give way, Timo was asked to move over by Champ Car officials, and let Servia take the lead. Timo obliged midway through the final lap, giving him enough time to try and take the lead back, but to no avail.

Glock went on to finish 8th in the final season points standings and win Champ Car World Series Rookie of the Year honors.
Reference Here>>

This weekend, Timo returns home for the Formula 1 German Grand Prix. Timo Glock (born March 18, 1982 in Lindenfels, Germany) considers Hockenheim a home race for him, and that means not only will he be on familiar territory, he will have plenty of familiar faces to cheer him on as he looks for another points finish. “A lot of friends are coming down and a lot of people I know,” he says. “That makes it quite a special race.”

Of course, the ambition for any racing driver is to win, so it is no surprise Hockenheim is one of Timo’s favorite tracks, with a victory and third place on his last visits, as a GP2 Series driver in 2006 and 2007, adding to an expanding collection of happy memories.

“Every time I’ve been to Hockenheim I have had really good races and I’ve won a few times,” he adds. “It’s one of the best races of the year for me, not just because it’s my local track but also because I have been strong there.”

Not only is Hockenheim a home race for Timo, it is the start of the second half of his first full season as a Formula 1 racer.

So far the balance sheet says nine races and five points, but bare statistics only tell a fraction of the story. Timo has shown strong performance since the very start of the season and only bad luck denied him points on his Panasonic Toyota Racing debut in Australia.

A points finish was also looking certain in Bahrain until gearbox gremlins struck but in Canada he got the break his consistent performances deserved, capping a battling drive with fourth place.

The fight for points is fiercer than ever this season, making it tough for a young driver to regularly finish in the top eight when he must compete against a grid filled with 10 Grand Prix winners, including his experienced and brilliantly quick team-mate Jarno Trulli.

That is a formidable challenge, but one which Timo has risen to since joining the team at the beginning of the year. Formula 1 is more complex than a driver simply sitting behind the wheel and letting his talent do the talking; much more work is required to compete at the top – and that suits Timo the “terrier”.
(ht: Toyota Motorsport GmbH)

... notes from The EDJE