After 11 years in Formula 1 with little success, Ralf Schumacher has decided to race sports cars. The younger brother of 7-time F1 world champion, Michael, announced Monday that he will be driving the Trilux Mercedes AMG C-Class with a one year contract. The announcement was made a few weeks after a test with the team at Estoril in Portugal.
Although the name of the series is Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft – which literally translates to German Touring Master – the series is held all over Europe with many international drivers. The DTM cars these days are a far cry from what they used to be over a decade ago. Back when DTM actually had more than 2 manufacturers, it was a highly competitive series with several manufacturers, top notch drivers, actual touring cars, amazing battles, and very dangerous races on the legendary Nurburgring Nordschleife. Nowadays, DTM cars are a far cry from ‘touring cars’. Simply put, these cars are more outrageous than Le Mans-style GT cars because they are allowed to run tube frame chassis, ridiculous aerodynamic bodywork, and drastic suspension changes. Mercedes & Audi are the sole manufacturers in this series, and with their 500hp V8’s, lightweight chassis, and other modifications, DTM is one of the fastest GT racing series in the world – along with SuperGT (formerly JGTC) in Japan.
Ok, enough ranting about DTM….it’s too bad Ralf didn’t have success in F1 like his older brother, but none the less, he’s still had a pretty good career and gets paid millions for being a Schumacher (hey, still not a bad deal). Atleast he didn’t pull a Juan Pablo Montoya or Jacques Villeneuve and go to NASCAR……right?
