Bruno Spengler (born August 23, 1983) is an Alsatian-born Canadian racing driver, currently racing for the BMW factory/works team. Nicknamed 'The Secret Canadian', he won the 2012 DTM Drivers' Championship. Career Early career Spengler was born near Strasbourg, France but moved with his parents to Saint-Hippolyte, Quebec, Canada, when he was 3. He went to school in Canada but continued to go back to France where he started competing in kart racing in 1995. Spengler continued karting in both France and Canada and then moved on to competing in the French Formula Renault. Eventually this led to him being signed by Mercedes-Benz motorsport and in 2003 he was racing for ASM in the Formula Three Euroseries. DTM From 2005 until the end of 2011, Spengler drove a Mercedes in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters in Germany. In 2005 he ran with Persson Motorsport and he convinced AMG directors to have an official car in 2006. That year he finished the 2006 season second behind his teammate and five times champion Bernd Schneider. He completed the 2007 season campaign once again in second place, this time behind Audi driver Mattias Ekström, despite Audi's mass pull-out in Barcelona. In August 2007 he was mentioned in a possible move to the new Prodrive F1 team for 2008, and possibly for a drive with McLaren. Spengler was a leading candidate for an F1 driver's seat based on his performances and also it was thought to help drive up interest in North America for Formula 1. With Prodrive gone and Heikki Kovalainen signed for McLaren, this did not happen for 2008. While leading the DTM in points during the 2010 season, Spengler's name was again brought up as a possible candidate to drive in F1. Norbert Haug Mercedes motorsports director commented that if Spengler were to win the DTM championship he would earn a ride in F1. However, he lost the championship in the last few races to Paul di Resta who went on to drive for Force India in the next F1 season. For the 2012 season, Spengler left Mercedes and joined BMW Team Schnitzer for the latter's return to DTM. Spengler had a strong season, coming into the last race at the Hockenheimring three points behind leader and Mercedes driver Gary Paffett. He overtook Paffett at the start and held on to win the race. With this victory, his fourth of the season, Spengler