Schumacher back to his roots for kart race

Ferrari's Formula One world champion Michael Schumacher returned to his roots on Friday as he warmed up for a kart race in his home town of Kerpen.

Schumacher, who grew up racing karts, was met by hundreds of fans as he arrived at the Kerpen track, where he hopes to qualify for the final round of the world championship on Sunday.

"This is the kart world championship and I don't want to stand in the limelight," said the German, who declined to answer questions.

He later proved he had lost nothing of his kart skills by setting the fastest time in free practice with a track record in front of 1,000 delighted spectators.

Gerd Brandes, who runs the Kerpen kart club and has known Schumacher since childhood in this small western German town, said the four-times Formula One world champion was having fun.

"I've rarely seen him so relaxed," said Brandes. "You can see that he is enjoying himself."

Reigning kart world champion Davide Fore, who was second in the standings behind fellow Italian Vitantonio Liuzzi before Sunday's finale, said he was looking forward to beating Schumacher.

"It was always my dream to race against him," Fore said. "It would be great if I was ahead of him on Sunday. An Italian beating the Ferrari star, that would be quite something."