ROC 2015 Nations Cup Winners Crowned

[Paul Jeffrey]

Andy Priaulx and Jason Plato have guided Team England 2 to victory in the Race of Champions Nations Cup on the event’s return to home soil in London.

The BTCC megastars the German superteam of 4 time Formula One World Champion Sebastien Vettel and 2015 Le Man 24 hour victor and Force India Grand Prix driver Nico Hulkenberg in a tense final at the former Olympic Stadium in London.

In heat one West Surrey Racing's Andy Priaulx delighted the home fans beating Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel. Vettel’s fellow F1 star Nico Hülkenberg struck back by coming in ahead of Jason Plato in the second heat but Priaulx proved too strong in the final ensuring a Team England 2 victory for the first ever time in the ROC Nations Cup final.

Speaking to the crowd after his finale victory Priaulx said “that is awesome... We’ve lost in the final three times to Germany so it is great to finally get the win after countless attempts. I had a great night, it is fantastic to be here in front of the fans and I had a great race in the final. Thanks to the organisers for allowing us to come and race. Tomorrow is another day and let's come back next year and defend the title.”

“Just to race against these guys that are the best in the world is really special,” added Plato. “It is a nice relaxed event where we all have fun, once the visor is down though it is all business.”

Last year’s winners Team Nordic (Tom Kristensen and Petter Solberg) made the semi-finals before being knocked out by Germany and team England 1 (Jenson Button and Alex Buncombe) succumbed to their fellow Brits representing Team England 2 (or Team BTCC would be more appropriate!).

There was no repeat of last year’s success for 2014 finalists Team Scotland in the battle of the home nations as they lost out to Team England 1 in the quarter-finals. Retiring Susie Wolff lost out to Buncombe prior to Jenson Button beating BBC pundit and former F1 driver David Coulthard by a massive five thousandths of a second…

An outstanding night of racing marked a successful return to British soil for the Race of Champions and the action continues tomorrow with as the drivers put their regional friendships aside and go it alone in the individual Race Of Champions.

Full draw for tomorrow’s Race Of Champions

Round 1

Match A
José Maria López v Ryan Hunter-Reay

Match B
Pascal Wehrlein v Andy Priaulx

Match C
Mick Doohan v Bradley Philpot (ROC Factor winner)

Match D
Alex Buncombe v Jolyon Palmer

Quarter-finals

Sebastian Vettel v Petter Solberg

Daniel Ricciardo v Nico Hülkenberg

Jenson Button v Felipe Massa

David Coulthard v Susie Wolff

Tom Kristensen v Nelson Piquet Jr

Romain Grosjean v Jason Plato

Winner Match A (López/Hunter-Reay) v Winner Match B (Wehrlein/Priaulx)

Winner Match C (Doohan/Philpot) v Winner Match D (Buncombe/Palmer)

 

[Andrew Harper]

Well done Andy and Team England! After coming close a few times it's great Andy has a ROC win

 

[Bardofar]

I tried to watch the ROC show last night, what a disapointment to watch on TV.. awful filming / viewing angels, no engine sounds.. not all races showed live timing. Guess its one of those shows you need to see live, at least the drivers seemed to enjoy them self

 

[Andrew Harper]

I tried to watch the ROC show last night, what a disapointment to watch on TV.. awful filming / viewing angels, no engine sounds.. not all races showed live timing. Guess its one of those shows you need to see live, at least the drivers seemed to enjoy them self

Interesting, will try and catch the highlights on Eurosport later.

Maybe they were having some technical problems, they did have a huge amount of rain earlier in the day.

When I watched at Wembley sometimes the breaks between races could be a bit of an atmosphere breaker, they try to fill the gaps with entertainment but if you're shivering it is difficult to enjoy it!