Another one of Stoddart's team-mates at Mercedes-Benz this year is
Ralf Schumacher, The fast lady from Oban is convinced the German's arrival can only be good news for the hyper-competitive pan-European tin-top series.
“We met at a PR day,” she recalled, “and I have to say it was a really pleasant surprise. He's a really nice, down-to-earth guy. He's the second-most successful German
Formula 1 driver, and I think he's going to be strong in the DTM; he's shown good pace in the tests so far, and he's been made to feel very welcome by Mercedes-Benz. I think he's really going to enjoy himself.
“Based on how much press the DTM has attracted throughout the winter time, it's been phenomenal, and most of that is regarding Ralf. I think it's going to create huge interest, and that's great for the championship; that's what I love to see.
“The DTM deserves to be bigger and better than people give it credit for, and I think Ralf will help to bring the series along. Schumacher is such a famous name in the whole world really, so yeah, I think it's great for the championship.”
As to her own chances in 2008, Stoddart is playing her cards close to her chest, explaining that she is no longer going to be putting herself under any pressure to break her series' points duck, whilst at the same time re-iterating her belief that with Persson she is in for comfortably the finest season of her DTM career.
“We have one official test left to do at Oschersleben, so we have a bit of work to do there,” the 25-year-old reflected, “but it's really exciting and I'm looking forward to the season's first race at the Hockenheimring on 13 April. It's all go, but that's the way I like it. It's been a long winter, I've joined a new team and I've been preparing and training hard, so I'm very much excited about the first race as opposed to nervous.
![Mercedes' leading lady DTM racer Susie Stoddart [pic credit: DTM Media]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/346802.jpg)
