This morning marked the start of celebrations at China’s Bird’s Nest Stadium for the annual Race of Champions event. Teams from all over the world were there in an attempt to unseat the German team comprised of seven time Formula 1 champion Michael Schumacher and this year’s F1 runner up Sebastian Vettel. All when home disappointed as Germany strikes again.
The early stages seen the German’s in the toughest group with the likes of host nation China, Finland, Australia. The awesome duo took six of the first six races, easily cruising into the next round. The toughest challenge however, came from our very own US team that saw Tanner Foust and Travis Pastrana nearly upset the 2x reigning champs. Foust was able to beat Schumacher on the first go, but Sebastian Vettel proved why he is the golden child, knocking off both Pastrana and Foust to get Germany to the finals.
The finals had the Autosport Great Britain team looking to take out the Germans with current Formula 1 champ Jenson Button and 3x WTCC champion Andy Priaulx at the wheel. The British duo looked brilliant but were eventually beaten by Schmacher and Vettel. A great effort by all the nations represented and spectacular racing in each class. Tomorrow will be the individual contest between all the drivers to crown who the champion of champions will be for 2009.
OP would like to extend a congratulations to Travis Pastrana and Tanner Foust for representing the US team and doing a damn good job of it. Congrats guys!!!
Thanks so much for the great commentary regarding Foust/Pastrana. I’m tired of hearing critics say these guys aren’t the best the US has to offer. These people are clearly under educated, as these are 2 of the best all around drivers in the world, and clearly this competition favored those who race on winding pavement for a living, as it always does. Tanner has beaten most of these guys several times over! 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 seriously doubt Schumacher/Vettel could hang anywhere close in extreme dirt and ice/snow conditions against our guys. Hopefully next year this will be taken into consideration.
You are more than welcome! I agree that both Pastrana and Foust are amazing talents and I actually think that the way in which this event is setup favors both of these drivers. While we are on a tarmac like surface, the tight stadium style course is very close to that of an X-Games style that both clearly excel on. If I am the US team, I am looking at putting these guys in and taking NASCAR out completely. This style does not favor the good ol boys and as demonstrated yesterday, does benfit Foust who is an amazing talent and Pastrana who is equally world class. I appreciate you posting and hope you stop by often and maybe even check out the forum! we would love to hear your opinions in the future as well.