At the end of last year, Gerhard Berger disbanded DTM’s parent company ITR and sold the brand rights to the ADAC, marking a complete shift in the ownership of Germany’s biggest racing series.
Next weekend’s season opener at the Oschersleben will mark the first DTM round to be organised by the ADAC, and the club will also be hosting four joint events with its other major championship, the GT Masters, later in the year.
Schumacher, who raced in the DTM himself during its manufacturer-heavy era between 2008-12 with Mercedes, is confident that the championship will grow now that it is in the hands of the ADAC.
"It can only get better now because it's simply being handled more professionally," Schumacher told German broadcaster ran.de. "It just wasn't like that, even if you should have trusted Gerhard Berger to do it better here and there. But he didn't.
“And also, the whole farewell was very unfortunate [with teams having been assured of the future of the series at last year’s final round]. Accordingly, things can only go uphill for DTM now.
“DTM is an incredibly important brand for German motorsport, especially through the great times of the DTM itself, but also as a platform for some current Formula 1 drivers.
"It's really nice and important that the topic is now finally in calm waters and is being handled professionally - and also has a good and, above all, financially secure future, at least from the organiser's point of view.”
Source: Autosport