Ralf Schumacher has admitted his burning desire to prove his older brother Michael wrong by making a success of his new DTM career with Mercedes-Benz.
The younger Schumacher has signed up to compete in the pan-European touring car series in 2008
against the advice of the seven-time
Formula 1 World Champion, who only last month suggested Ralf would find the experience somewhat more of a challenge than what he had been used to in single-seaters.
I believe that neither of us have the talent to drive those cars quickly, the former
Ferrari ace is quoted as having said by
Grand Prix Magazine. I have even tried them, and it is a completely different world.
In evidence of Schumacher Snr's point, fellow ex-
F1 aces Mika Hakkinen, Jean Alesi and Heinz-Harald Frentzen have all won races in the DTM in recent years, but none were able to string together the necessary consistency in order to mount a full-on title bid.
What's more, Schumacher Jnr who quit F1 at the end of the 2007 season following eleven years and six victories in the top flight will be campaigning a year-old C-Class during his maiden season in the championship, hardly an advantage in such a hotly-contested environment. He insisted, however, that his elder sibling's concerns had only served to spur him on.
It is more of an incentive for me, the 32-year-old told German newspaper
Bild, fuelling speculation that the brothers no longer share a close relationship. To find out if it comes easily to me or not I can only try, so we will see.
