Germany wins 6th successive Race of Champions

For the sixth year in succession, the German team of Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel has won the Race of Champions Nations Cup. This year’s victory was the result of a 2-0 thrashing of team France in the final.

Germany really does have the dream team of all dream teams – the most successful of all Formula One drivers and the newly crowned triple Formula One World Champion. So it comes as no surprise that Schumacher and Vettel won yet again. Their dominance in the final is perhaps a little surprising, considering who they were up against.

Team France consisted of Sebastain Ogier (2011 individual event Race of Champions winner) and Romain Grosjean who is a current Formula One driver and has displayed significant speed in the this year’s Formula One World Championship. But they had no answer to Germany – Schumacher dispatched Grosjean in the first heat of the final and Vettel won the “battle of the Sebs” in heat two to seal the team victory.

The Nations Cup took place yesterday, but the action is not over. Today sees the drivers compete in the individual Race of Champions, a title neither Schumacher nor Vettel has ever won although Schumacher has lost in the final twice. Vettel has not yet featured in a RoC individual final.

Today’s individual event sees drivers compete in groups before the top driver proceed to a knock-out stage. The groups are as follows:

Group A:
Sebastian Ogier – World Rally Championship and 2011 RoC winner
Jamie Whincup – Four time V8 Supercar Champion
David Coulthard – 13 F1 Grand Prix victories
Benito Guerra – 2012 Production World Rally Champion

Group B:
Tom Kristensen – eight time Le Mans 24-hour winner
Andy Priaulx – three time World Touring Car Champion
Ho-Pin Tung – F1 test driver and fastest RoC Asia qualifier
Nattavude Charoensukawattana – RoC Thailand winner

Group C:
Sebastian Vettel – triple F1 World Champion
Jorge Lorenzo – double MotoGP World Champion
Mick Doohan – five time 500cc MotoGP World Champion
Tin Sritrai – RoC Thailand runner-up

Group D:
Michael Schumacer – seven time F1 World Champion
Ryan Hunter-Reay – 2012 Indycar Series Champion
Kazuya Ohshima – Second fastest RoC Asia qualifier
Romain Grosjean – Current F1 driver with three 2012 podiums