Audi’s $12.5m Le Mans bid for Schu

(GMM) Audi has already made a $12.5 million bid to reunite retiring Formula One driver Michael Schumacher with a race car.

According to the Cologne based 'Express' broadsheet, the German marque's competition boss Wolfgang Ullrich is hoping the offer will convince Schumacher – albeit with a personal fortune of more than half a billion dollars – to enter DTM or race at Le Mans.

The newspaper said $12.5m is more than the combined salary of all existing DTM drivers, including Schumacher's old F1 rival Mika Hakkinen.

But Ullrich cautioned: "I don't know if his contracts with Fiat and Ferrari would allow it."

37-year-old Schumacher's spokeswoman Sabine Kehm also played down the speculation, telling the BBC that he will 'miss the intensity (of racing) but really wants to let go for a while.'