ROME (AFP) - Formula One legend Michael Schumacher insisted on Sunday he has no plans to launch a new career in motorbike racing despite finishing fourth in his first official race.

Schumacher took part in the Trofeo KTM at Misano in the Rimini province of Italy on Sunday where he started from third on the grid following Saturday's qualifying.

It could have been even better for the German former seven-time Formula One champion, who set the second fastest lap of the day, but he was blocked in at the first corner and slipped down to 10th place.

But in true Schumacher style he passed one racer after another as he moved up the positions to finally finish fourth.

Asked after the race if he was considering making a career in MotoGP or Superbikes, Schumi said: "I'm thinking only about having fun."

The former Ferrari and Benetton driver retired from Formula One in 2006, but has had a couple of amateur motorbike races recently where he finished third in Hungary and won in Barcelona over the recent Easter holiday.

"I simply get great pleasure from riding motorbikes," the 39-year-old told Sunday's edition of German tabloid Bild.

"I do not have any particular ambition to make it a career.

"If I take part in races from time to time, it is simply because of the love for the competition."

Rumours have been fuelled by Schumacher's test ride for the Ducati MotoGP team at the end of last year.

"What I like most on the motorbike, it is that you are closer to the action," said the German.

"You can feel the strength of the bike through the handle bars, your knees touch the ground in the curves, you do not have the cockpit around you.

"And I can deal with the bike's mechanics myself."

But just as during his Formula One career, Schumacher does not leave anything to chance: Bild reports he is accompanied by a physiotherapist and has asked the company which makes his helmet to make an extra-light model in his black and orange colours.