Robert Kubica will be driving a BMW M4 DTM for customer team ORLEN Team ART in the 2020 DTM season.
The endeavour is backed by Polish oil firm PKN Orlen, which also bankrolled Kubica’s return to Formula 1 in 2019 before the Pole lost his Williams race seat to F2 graduate Nicholas Latifi.
The company has significant presence in Germany and is also acting as the title sponsor for the Alfa Romeo F1 outfit, for which Kubica is the reserve driver.
His Formula 1 commitments are not expected to clash with his new DTM plans.
Kubica has long shown interest in racing in DTM and tested with BMW at Jerez late last year.
He was briefly linked to a factory seat before standout rookie Jonathan Aberdein was announced as the final member of the Bavarian line-up last week.
“The DTM has appealed to me for a long time,” explained Kubica.
“And the test in December in Jerez really gave me a taste for more. I believe the DTM is one of the strongest and best racing series in the world.
“Obviously, we still have to gain experience compared to the established DTM teams, but we’ll work hard to ensure we improve all the time. I can hardly wait to get started!”
ART Grand Prix will be entering a sole BMW M4 DTM for Kubica into the championship, joining Audi squad Team WRT as the second customer outfit and giving a much needed boost to DTM’s ranks.
R-Motorsport ended its Aston Martin campaign after a single season, thus withdrawing its four cars from the championship.
BMW Motorsport Director Jens Marquardt added: “This is really great news for the DTM. It has always been our goal to grow the DTM field with a privately-run BMW M4 DTM; and, after many discussions, we opted for the package provided by ART Grand Prix.
“Robert showed during last December’s test that he is very good in a DTM car. He’ll be a real asset to the series.”
ART Grand Prix team principal Sébastien Philippe said: “We’ve put a lot of energy into this project over the winter.
“We’ll help Robert to write a new page in his already incredibly rich motorsport career. Our objectives will be modest at the start of the season, but I hope we’ll make progress to fight with the frontrunners.”