He and Schumacher defeated the American and British teams to face off against Finland in the final heat. An uncharacteristic error from Schumacher saw him spin and lose to Heikki Kovalainen. Vettel went on to win both of his matches against rally champ Marcus Gronholm and finally Kovalainen.

"I didn't expect that to be honest,” Vettel admitted to Autosport. “I was racing first against Marcus in his car, his own living room if you like, and I was already putting the excuses together about why I lost. I didn't expect it at all to be honest. When I then got Heikki for tonight, he won the first time and I didn't think I could do the same as a rookie because he has done quite well in recent years and has a lot of experience.”

His victory as part of Team Germany makes up for a disappointing result in the individual Race of Champions where he was defeated by Kovalainen in the first round.

Toro Rosso teammate Sebastien Bourdais drove for Team France at the event but did not get as far. The team was eliminated in the first round of the Nations Cup when he had a heavy crash due to a stuck throttle. He fared better in the ROC making it to the semi-finals where he faced off against Michael Schumacher. The German beat him by a full second sending Bourdais home early.

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