The Bird's Nest Stadium, Beijing, is the home of the 2009 Race of Champions. Yesterday there was the traditional opening competition, The Nations' Cup, in which teams of two drivers representing countries or regions slug it out.
Almost as traditional was the result………..Germany with Sebastian Vettel and Michael Schumacher teamed up together has now won the competition three times in a row but Team Autosport GB pushed them very hard, Andy Priaulx beating Red Bull's F1 hero Vettel in the final run offs………….and then only just failing to repeat the feat against the seven time World Champion.
Touring Car ace, Priaulx, was teamed up with 2009 F1 Champ, Jenson Button, who scrambled his way to China's capital after his weekend in Abu Dhabi. He looked a little jet lagged but as soon as the engines fired up the adrenaline kicked in and off he went.
There were a couple of upsets, none bigger than Tanner Foust beating Michael Schumacher by .3 of a second in the group programme. The expression on Michael's face, the swallowed a bee look, said how much it hurt to lose. Foust's grin was quiet the reverse emotion.
But in the end it was Germany on top.
More tomorrow.
John Brooks
OFFICIAL SPEEDHUNTERS SUPPLIERS
Those buggies looked great fun with the flame spitting exhausts! Didn't catch any of the ktm xbow races but the hightlights reel suggested they got pretty badly beaten up.
Where's Tanner's grin and Michael's upset face?:)))
Biggest upset? Seriously?. I'm tired of hearing critics say Foust/Pastrana aren't the best the US has to offer or aren't good enough to be in this competition. These people are clearly not well informed, as these are 2 of the best all around drivers in the world. This competition also substantially favored those who race on winding pavement for a living, as it always does. Tanner has beaten most of these guys several times over on these courses (including last year as "merely" a last minute replacement for Travis), so why is doing it again a surprise? I'd like to see how the winners of this competition would fare against Foust/Pastrana with a more diverse set of tracks and racing conditions. I'm sure the results would be drastically different when you add extreme dirt/gravel/mud and ice/snow conditions. You may also see an entirely different majorit of "racer types" being invited and having great success, not to mention the expanded marketing potential the race would have. Hopefully next year this will be taken into consideration.
I won't spoil the result from today's ROC, but it wasn't either of the individuals mentioed above
Hell yea Tanner.
Why do people hate on Tanner so much! He is a awesome driver. My only complain is his BORING Show!
I think thats why people hate him so much.
The show pretty much goes like this
"now before we go off and take this Gallardo for a spin around the track, Im gonna wipe it down with Mothers Quick Detailer"
and then camera pans to Tanner doing a shitty job of wiping the Gallardo's hood with the entire line-up of mother car care products in the background.
Then there is the cheesy spot where he gets pulled over:
"Hey there just making sure your not racing your Speed Machine on these public streets son"
"No sir I take my supercar to my local sanctioned race track and always waipe it down with mothers car care products"
"Ha Ha Ha! Thats great buddy! wow what a neat car is this a Ferrari of some sort?"
"No sir its called an Ariel Atom and Its a blast to drive!"
"well thats pretty neat son! Drive safe and always wear your seat belt"
"yes sir officer"
now cut to a SuperCars Unleashed is bought to you by MOTHERS CAR CARE PRODUCTS!
And that my friends is the show!
Oh and somewhere in the show they squeeze 2-3 min of fast driving
LOL. True enough. The results are already all over the internet though, but again, Foust did beat the overall winner of this event in head to head competition. As always, Freecaster also did a great job covering the event. The announcer sometimes couldn't remember who was driving, but it didn't take away from the excitement. Thanks to SpeedHunters for covering as well & providing a BLOG for discussion.
Just h8 this arrogants germans... Hope one day I will get to this competition!!!
yo know anybody from germany?....shut the fuck up....it's fact that sebastian vettel and msc are one of the best drivers-certainly ekström,as you see, is a better alrounddriver...i think the result also depends very much one the vehicle, the formula one drivers are better in the openwheel class, and the ralley driver dominated in the gt oder ralley cars....
I just wish the competition went back to the old days of the Gran Canaria courses on gravel. That was REALLY awesome. Carlos Sainz tended to do rather well in those days, if I recall correctly.
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They should put some gravel or smooth concrete down in some sections to make it a little more interesting.
i think many of you are American and so can not understand than european drivers can be faster than US's.
i think you're the "arrogants" (like Iv).
this event is only for the show, why are you sayin it's cheated?Anybody cares about the result, it's only fun!
sorry for my english
a speedhunter's french fan
Props to Pastrana and Foust you guys ARE EPIC!
deutschland über alles
Hell yeah for Tanner ! Shumi is a great driver, but every now and then it's nice to see a "less" skillful driver shovel it up on his azz......lol
They are ALL great drivers. Thats why their at the Race of Champions! If it was the race of douche bags then some of you could compete & we wouldnt be talking about it! GOOD JOB TANNER!!!
Yeea Tanner! I should go up against schumi next ..lol jks jks
i don´t understand why you all try to find out who is the best driver! this is a fun event and all the drivers are good!!! and they all WON many championships in different race classes !
and this is a car comunity! why all this hate ! iam from germany and i do like also the US drivers ther is no problem 4 me to show resprect 2 other ppl! some of the members here should think first before write stupid things.
LOL @ B242
PEOPLE! PEOPLE! Chill! In racing, in a competition, it doesn't really matter where the driver is from, what's his name, who's his mama, what he does to market himself and so on and so on. You need to realize the fact that what really matters is the skill, the results and the way the driver works his way to success. A good driver is a good driver, a win is a win. Like said in F&F quote: "It doesn't matter if u win by an inch or a mile, winning's winning". With that in mind, same goes for skill, skill is skill. A good driver is a good driver, regardless of his background. Like a good parent would say: Show some RESPECT!
Biggups to Tanner too many people hate on him, but he just keeps on breaking it off on people .Formula D Rally Pikes Peak .Time Attack ROC now .You KNOW Schumie was burnin after getting beaten by a DRIFT driver! Yes, Tanners show is a super-watered down Top Gear, but frankly, Id donate either my left or my right t***** to get PAID to drive supercars. Besides, I get great pleasure when us left-turn-only Americans slap the face of what Europe calls real drivers. Not bagging on any specific country, but too many Euros seem to think the USA cant do produce a driver worth a damn. But heres the best part imo freakin PASTRANA was a freestyle motocross guy, gets in a rally car a couple years ago because it was fun, and now hes at the absolute top tier racing with legends. THAT, my friends, is AMERICAN.
just awesome ! http://jake.dingblog.com/
there are a big numbers of asshole i see ... i'm sorry but one day (maybe tomorrow?) you must grow up. a lot of yanks are like young idiot boys that want always win because american propaganda say them "you're the best in the world and blablabla" and follow shit.
whatever, relax yourself cunt, it's not true.
ta da
from someone who actually attended the event.... travis and tanner DEFINITELY held their own. (at least on this day's event, did not make it last night). One of the few times i saw tanner lose it was due to a mistake early on, and even then he managed to gain ground on his competition.
of course, coming from drifting / motocross background these two were definitely a LOT more fun to watch, especially when in the buggies. Travis surprisingly seemed to do better at drifting these around the whole course than tanner.
Schumacher of course is Schumacher! His driving never looked extremely fast, but by the time the checkered flag was out he was always a good cars length in front, which proves just how smooth his driving style in. deserved the win.
For those whining about the different racing backgrounds, i beleive there was an Australian motocross rider also competing, a superbike rider competing, and some karting riders competing. They switch cars almost every race, and i think Button was saying it was a challenge to adjust to each car each time, which made the competition even more exciting. especially the rally cars with the launch control etc.
was an awesome event to watch and the drivers were obviously more concerned about having fun than winning, based on how often the cars were seen going sideways
^^ the KTM Xbows were probably the most boring to watch. the track seemed a bit too tight and narrow for them and they appeared to just drone around it...from a spectators point of view anyways. (except for the crashes!) probably a different experience if you're driving them though i can imagine!
hell yea tanner
Lol I'm not american and I'm a racing driver. And I just don't like the way they are...that's all. Scandinavian drivers can win a worldchamp without making so much noise. French drivers also, just look what Sebastian Loeb did with his 6 titles ! And If you're not interested in rallying, you will maybe not know his name at all!
And that's not just my point of view...it's a fact! Germans like to focalize the attention...! Even when they don't win!
And just take it easy...it's just a discussion!
olli I just get your point! American drivers are maybe not fast...but for sure the most amazing skilled!
Anyway, Chris Davy is right... and sorry If some germans here felt offended by me.
Cheers.
@everyone........thnx for the comments but let's calm down and have a nice cup of tea and a biscuit................
@ Chris Davy........had I been in Beijing the photo might exist:-)
@letsbefair............Tanner was the only guy to beat Schumi that day............given their respective achievements it does register suprise, particularly as it was on tarmac and not gravel/ice etc. Tanner is very fine driver as are all the competitors, they are all champions in one discipline or another, and his victory is to saluted.
Anyhow this event is now written up.
John Brooks
lol @b242