Dear readers,
The Zandvoort weekend was a new low point in Timo Glock’s DTM comeback. Although – or precisely because – there was great jubilation at his McLaren team Dörr: Team youngster Ben Dörr gave the Frankfurt Dörr squad their first podium in the third DTM year with second place!
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And with a furious drive: The 21-year-old son of team owner Rainer Dörr, who has only been racing GT3 since 2023, defended himself in the final laps like a seasoned pro against drivers like two-time DTM champion Marco Wittmann, who had previously plowed through the field with the BMW. Ben Dörr avenged the Sachsenring disqualification in 2025, when he lost second place. And Glock?
The 44-year-old had nothing to do with all that – and finished 14th. That fits the overall picture, which has not changed significantly compared to last year: Youngster Ben Dörr sets the highlights and has already collected 42 points this year as sixth in the overall standings. Glock has 13 points on the board and is a distant 16th.
His previous placements since the DTM comeback last year: 20, 17, 10, 19, 10, 13, 22, 14, 11, 6, 15, 14 – plus seven retirements and one disqualification. But is the long-time BMW factory driver really that bad?
On Sunday, during Ben Dörr’s successful drive – six laps from the end and apparently with anger in his belly – Glock set the fastest lap of the race in 1:34.493, showing that there is potential. But after the tedious discussion last year about whether his car was as good as his teammate’s, he is also a victim of an unprecedented run of bad luck this year.
Four races – and endless mishaps
Already at the official test in Spielberg before the season opener, Glock had to twiddle his thumbs in the box for half a day due to problems with his car. In Friday practice in Spielberg, his McLaren 720S GT3 Evo was set several millimeters too high due to an error in the measuring instruments. The findings of the day were therefore useless.
Photo series: The turbulent career of Timo Glock
Nevertheless, Glock achieved his best McLaren result so far on Saturday with sixth place – and could even have been fourth if he had not been penalized for spinning wheels during the stop. “My mistake,” he took responsibility for the matter. On Sunday, Glock was only 15th and was again slower than Dörr, but the pit stops of 8.8 and 10.8 seconds were also not impressive.
Glock vents on Instagram
The curse returned in Zandvoort – and Glock publicly vented his frustration in an Instagram story. “Friday Free Practice 1 problems, Friday Free Practice 2 problems, Qualifying Saturday 1 problems. Did not drive in qualifying due to power loss,” he wrote on Saturday.
What was wrong this time? On Friday, there were problems with the steering, which apparently caused the track to adjust. In the first qualifying, Glock was last with almost seven seconds behind due to a torn turbocharger housing. In the following race, he suffered a tire damage after contact with Kelvin van der Linde.
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And on Sunday, like Ricardo Feller and Bastian Buus in qualifying, he was unlucky that Tom Kalender went off the track in front of them and threw sand onto the asphalt – resulting in a starting position of 19.
In the race, the Dörr crew needed 21.9 seconds for Glock’s second pit stop. According to the team, an impact wrench “literally fell apart,” so they replaced it. At the finish, the McLaren driver was 20.3 seconds behind winner Kelvin van der Linde – he lost 15 seconds alone in the pits.
Transmission gate: Why did Glock’s trusted people have to leave?
While some of these issues are definitely due to bad racing luck, it is noticeable that teammate Ben Dörr almost never suffers from problems with his vehicle. Could it really be that the team treats him better as the son of the team owner and puts obstacles in Glock’s way?
All this sounds like a bad Hollywood movie. “I have the impression that Timo is a bit sensitive,” is heard from team circles behind closed doors. But already in winter, the team, which was rebuilt this year by the new GT3 head Volker Strycek, caused displeasure for Glock.
Because precisely his confidant Richard Selwin, with whom he celebrated the GP2 title and who convinced him of the DTM comeback at the end of 2024, had to leave in winter as Dörr’s chief engineer. The same applied to race engineer Kevin Mirocha, whom Glock brought into the team and with whom the driver has a special trust relationship.
The Dörr team now has it in their own hands
Interestingly, Selwin and Mirocha apparently discovered last year during the vehicle swap at the Nürburgring that the transmission and differential, with which Glock repeatedly had problems, remained with him. This was even confirmed by the transmission number. The two are said to have raised the issue – and had to leave after the season.
All this does not prove that Glock, who has a two-year contract with the team, is deliberately being held back. If you ask around the paddock, hardly anyone can imagine that – apart from the fact that possibly more value is placed on newer parts for Ben Dörr. Nevertheless, a certain aftertaste arises.
The Dörr team, which wants to finally establish itself in the DTM in the third year of a three-year plan and aims for victories, now has it in their own hands to prove that all this is not true. Namely, by not only one car running well but also the other not constantly having something go wrong.
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