French Formula One driver Romain Grosjean put in a thrilling performance this weekend when he overshadowed other motorsport heroes to win the annual Race of Champions at Rajamangala stadium in Bangkok. In the Nations Cup, Sebastian Vettel and Michael Schumacher lifted the trophy for Germany for a sixth consecutive time.
Held in eight countries and 10 cities over its 25-year history, the Race of Champions pits the very best in varied disciplines of motorsport against one another in a weekend-long showdown. Competitors have to come to grips with all sorts of machinery, such as Audi’s R8 LMS, Toyota’s 86, Volkswagen’s Scirocco, the Euro racecar, Lamborghini’s Gallardo Super Trofeo, and the ROC buggy, in order to get the win.
An inspired Grosjean won hard-fought battles against current Formula One champion Sebastian Vettel in the quarter-finals, former Formula One champion Michael Schumacher in the semi-finals and of course, triumphed over Danish Le Mans legend Tom Kristensen in the final – winning both heats.
“That’s what I’d call a crazy day! It got a bit tough in the group stages but I managed to make it through. Then I had to face Sebastian Vettel in the quarter finals before Michael Schumacher in the semi-final. Then I had the final with Tom. We’ve had a good history at this event and I’ve raced him before so it was good to face him in the final. I got a bit of extra luck to be in the right car at the right time but it felt good,” Grosjean said.
Saturday’s Nations Cup saw Team Germany (Schumacher and Vettel) defeat Team France (WRC ace Sébastien Ogier and Grosjean) to take home the title for a sixth year in a row, as well as a total of ten wins out of ten races on the day.
“This is a historic day. It was already very special to win five times in a row but this new record just feels great. The Race Of Champions is a nice event with a nice set-up. There are great guys here and tough competition. We were pretty scared of the guys on Team France but in the end they lost time in the final heats so we were lucky to be consistent the whole way through,” Schumacher said.
“Even Michael hasn’t managed six titles in a row before so this is something special. We all love coming here as it’s a special event. It’s a privilege and an honour to race with these guys. There’s one thing that connects us all, which is racing. Now I can look forward to tomorrow and hopefully stay in the competition as long as possible. I’ve tried that for the last five years and haven’t succeeded yet so it would be nice to put my name on that trophy too,” Vettel added.
