Touring car star Mattias Ekstrom upstaged Formula 1 legend Michael Schumacher to win the Race of Champions in Beijing's Olympic stadium on Wednesday.
Schumacher had won his third consecutive Nations Cup with German team-mate Sebastian Vettel on Tuesday but was chasing his first victory in the main drivers’ head-to-head competition.
He advanced easily through the knockout stages, dispatching Vettel in the semi-final, and made a strong start in the first heat of the final.
Vettel made an ignominious exit from his semi-final when he crashed his KTM X-Bow into the barriers while trying to keep pace with Schumacher.
“In the first corner I thought I could make it stick in third [gear] and lost the rear at the second apex,” explained the Red Bull ace sheepishly.
“It’s quite a heavy car and if you get counter-movement it can surprise you. So I hit the wall and obviously had damaged the right-front wheel and the rim broke.
“I think the first lap was [neck-and-neck], so it would have been nice to see how it would have turned out on the second one, but the old guy [Schumacher] did it again!”
World champion Jenson Button fell to Ekstrom in the other semi-final, while Vettel had previously edged out his Red Bull colleague David Coulthard at the quarter-final stage. Source: ITV
[AWARD] Sebastian Vettel wins DHL Fastest Lap Trophy
...after achieving 3 fastest laps during season
The contest for the 2009 season’s DHL Fastest Lap Trophy was decided on the penultimate lap of Sunday’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix when eventual winner Sebastian Vettel posted the fastest lap of the Yas Marina race.
Vettel's quick lap of 1m 40.279s in Abu Dhabi meant that he had equalled team mate Mark Webber’s tally of three fastest laps over the course of the season. And after the duo's number of second fastest laps were taken into account, the young German driver came out in front of his Australian counterpart in the standings by three to one.
“I am very pleased,” said Vettel after being presented with the trophy following the race. “It means a lot to me to have my achievements recognized in this way. I wanted to post the fastest lap of the race, which is why, just before the finish; I really put my foot to the floor again. It was more than worth it.”
DHL Fastest Lap Trophy 2009 - Facts Winner: Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) Number of fastest laps: 3 Fastest lap of the season: Mark Webber (Red Bull), Brazil (1m 13.733s) Source: F1.com + Thanks: Phil
Just a few updates on RoC (live updates on our Twitter), while the other groups race:
- Sebastian and Schumacher won all the 6 races of their group, qualifying first. - Sebastian still has the quickest lap ;) - Schumacher lost his round, and Seb beat all USA team going to the finals! - England beats China and goes to finals against Germany. - Schumi beats Jenson, so Sebastian must win Andy Priaulx now! - Seb spins, Schumi will have to race once more. - Team Germany wins!!!
...don't forget to check seb defending his title once more
Tuesday 3rd November 19:30 - 20:00 The ROC Nations Cup Presentation 20:00 - 23:00 The ROC Nations Cup
Wednesday 4th November 19:30 - 19:40 The ROC Drivers’ Presentation 19:40 - 20:00 The Race Of Champions Round 1 20:00 - 23:00 The Race Of Champions Local time for Beijing, China
Wings for Life is a Spinal Cord Research foundation which aims to make the injury curable. For the next three days, they'll be running an auction of some items, including an artwork of Sebastian Vettel's RB09 car made by Luke Pollard, which will be personally signed and dedicated as you wish, by Sebastian himself. All proceeds inure to the benefit of supporting promising research projects aiming to cure spinal cord injuries, so if you can, please help.
The auction runs in their website, so click here to know more about the items/place a bid.
Red Bull will continue to use Renault engines in 2009, after contemplating switching to Mercedes or Cosworth.
Mercedes' exclusive F1 partner McLaren reportedly vetoed the proposed collaboration with Red Bull, and changing to Cosworth was reportedly deemed too great a risk in terms of the power, reliability and fuel efficiency of the returning supplier's V8 unit.
Auto Motor und Sport reports that the decision was made shortly before the 2009 season finale.
"We have got good foundations," team boss Christian Horner said in Abu Dhabi. "We have been well supported by Renault as you don't win races and achieve the kind of results we have had without great support from your engine supplier.” Source: F1-Live
