World Endurance champion Timo Bernhard and DTM champion René Rast secured an eighth Nations Cup victory for Team Germany at Riyadh’s King Fahad International Stadium on Friday.
On a chilly evening in the Saudi Arabian capital, legends from the world’s biggest motor sport series teamed up in pairs to battle for national and regional pride. They raced a mix of cars – including the Vuhl 05 ROC Edition, Ariel Atom Cup, Xtreme Pickup, Whelen NASCAR, KTM X-Bow Comp R and the ROC Car – on a purpose-built parallel track featuring a unique crossover bridge.
And what an evening of action it was – as Bernhard and Rast prevailed in the final against the might of Team Latin America’s IndyCar legends Juan Pablo Montoya and Helio Castroneves.
In the first heat Rast beat off the challenge of Colombia’s Montoya. Castroneves struck back by beating Bernhard in the second heat but Rast was just too strong in the finale to win the ROC Nations Cup for Team Germany for a record eighth time.
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“It was a great team effort today," said Bernhard. "We made it through to the final, then René put together two good heats. I was not so happy with my heat because I did a small mistake against Helio, but René pulled it off.
"We know Team Germany have a big history here at the Race Of Champions. In Germany we call the team ethic ‘Mannschaft’ and there’s something about it that also seems to correlate with motor sport. So we’re very proud to win the ROC Nations Cup.
Rast added: "Here at the Race Of Champions you go up against the best of the best. So there was a lot of pressure in that final race. I won my heat against Juan Pablo, then we had a very close race between Timo and Helio so it went to the finale.
"But the whole event is so much fun and I’ve really enjoyed being here, driving against these big stars. There are all these names that I used to watch when I was young: in Formula 1, in World Rally, all these different categories. So now to compete against these guys and to end up winning? It’s like a dream come true…"
Team Saudi Arabia (Yazeed Al-Rajhi and Ahmed Bin Khanen) thrilled their home fans in the Riyadh stadium by making it as far as the semi-finals before they were beaten in straight heats by Team Germany.
The other semi-final featured an epic battle between many of the biggest names of global motorsport as Team Latin America took on Team Nordic (Mr Le Mans Tom Kristensen and World Rallycross Champion Petter Solberg). Montoya and Solberg took a win each before the Colombian won the decisive final heat.
The evening’s action began with the 11 teams – an all-time record entry for the ROC Nations Cup – split into three round-robin groups. On a night of match-ups between global stars of world motor sport, many greats fell by the wayside at this early stage.
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Team USA (IndyCar champions Ryan Hunter-Reay and Josef Newgarden) were one of the early casualties. Newgarden took two wins but it wasn’t enough to see them through a very competitive group A. The other pairing knocked out was Team Mexico (Memo Rojas and Abraham Calderon) despite their single win.
Team Germany topped Group A with five wins while Team Latin America took four wins – including three out of three for Montoya – and they progressed as the best second-placed team.
Group B also saw some huge names go out of the competition, not least Team Great Britain – despite a win apiece for David Coulthard and Lando Norris. Team Nordic and Team Sweden’s Johan Kristoffersson and Joel Eriksson both finished on four wins, but the Nordic pair qualified for the semi-finals on countback of fastest times.
The revelations of the night were surely Team Simracing All Stars (Rudy van Buren and Enzo Bonito) for whom Van Buren took two wins against the professional racers, but it wasn’t quite enough to help the gamers make it any further.
Group C was an all Middle East affair and it was an incredibly tense affair, with all three teams finishing with two wins. But it was Team Saudi Arabia who thrilled their home fans by going through on countback of fastest times. That meant Team UAE (Khaled Al Qubaisi and Khalid Al Qassimi) and Team Lebanon (Karl Massaad and Mansour Chebli) bade farewell to the competition.
Saturday sees the Champion of Champion event in which drivers are pitted against one another to find the ultimate RoC champion.
