Last year’s edition of the annual Race of Champions (ROC) at the “bird’s nest” Olympic stadium in Beijing, China was a major success. But it was even more fitting to host this year’s event in Düsseldorf, Germany, which welcomed home its new Formula One world champion, Sebastian Vettel.
Team Germany didn’t only go into the event with home-ground advantage – Vettel and team-mate Michael Schumacher had won the Nations Cup for three years on the trot and were clear favourites this time round, too. Five countries were represented, with two regions and an all-star team rounding off the line-up.
Team Great Britain (Andy Priaulx and Jason Plato), Team France (Alain Prost and Sebastien Loeb), Team Nordic (Heikki Kovaleinen and Tom Kristensen), Team Portugal (Alvaro Parente and Filipe Albuquerque), Team Benelux (Bertrand Baguette and Jeroen Bleekemolen) , Team USA (Travis Pastrana and Carl Edwards) and Team All Stars (Mick Doohan and Tanner Foust) tried their utmost, but the Germans took it in the final over their British rivals.
Overall honours went to ROC rookie Filipe Albuquerque, who snatched away a potential fourth ROC title from eight-times WRC champion Sebastien Loeb.