David Coulthard crowned Champion of Champions
14/12/2014 15:00:00
Thirteen-time Formula 1 grand prix winner David Coulthard lifts the Race Of Champions trophy for the first time
•Coulthard prevails after a Grand Final win over young Mercedes F1 reserve driver Pascal Wehrlein
•Six-time V8 Supercar champion Jamie Whincup and this year’s FIA European F3 champion Esteban Ocon make it as far as the semi-finals
•Formula 1’s Romain Grosjean, the reigning ROC Champion of Champions, fails to make it past the group stages this time
•Yesterday’s ROC Nations Cup winners for Team Nordic Tom Kristensen and Petter Solberg also go out early on
Multiple Formula 1 grand prix winner David Coulthard put in a stunning performance to eclipse 15 fellow stars of motor sport and win the Race Of Champions on a thrilling afternoon of action and entertainment at Bushy Park Barbados.
Following Team Nordic’s triumph in Saturday’s ROC Nations Cup, today’s Race Of Champions pitted many of motor sport’s biggest names against each other in identical cars on a purpose-built parallel track.
On another hot afternoon in Barbados, the best-of-three Grand Final boiled down to a battle of Formula 1 drivers young and old. But in the end Coulthard saw off Mercedes F1 official reserve driver Pascal Wehrlein to become Champion of Champions for the very first time.
Coulthard had been in the Race Of Champions Grand Final once before, when he lost out by the narrowest margin to rally legend Sébastien Loeb at Wembley in 2008. This time he prevailed over his young German challenger, who can nonetheless be proud of his run to the Grand Final at the first attempt.
Coulthard said: “We’ve had a fantastic week, never mind a fantastic race weekend. So huge thanks to all the wonderful people of Barbados for coming out – and of course to Fredrik Johnsson and his team at ROC. I’m retired so it’s lovely to get another trophy. But I think everyone can see that in Pascal we have a star for the future. He’s already signed up with Mercedes in Formula 1 as a reserve driver and winning races in the DTM so motor sport’s in good health with great young drivers like this.
“But yes, I’m pleasantly very surprised and I’m slightly embarrassed because there’s such great talent out there. Maybe not racing for two years is the secret! Of course I don’t race any more - but at this event I had the advantage because being 23 years older than Pascal I’m used to changing gear whereas he was looking for the semi-automatic shift! It’s been a good weekend so thank you to the Race Of Champions, thank you to Barbados and I think a small rum punch is in order…”
Wehrlein added: “It was a pleasure for me to be here and to drive in the Race Of Champions. It was so much fun, but in the end David did really well. I couldn’t beat him – maybe because for me it’s a bit tough to drive a manual shift car with a clutch and everything. I’m used to driving with shift pedals and braking with my left foot so I was struggling a bit with that. But today David was unbeatable so congratulations to him. To reach the Grand Final and lose against him is not bad for my first year. During the weekend I’ve improved so maybe I’ll come back next year and see what happens…”
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