ROC Mexico: Schumacher whips his master but Guerra prevails

Mexican rally star Benito Guerra took a surprise win at the Race of Champions event in Mexico City, beating in the final Le Mans winner Loic Duval.

The annual pre-season battle of champions set up shop at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez’s Foro Sol stadium, where a fervent crowd was worked into a frenzy on Sunday by its local heroes.

Video: ROC Mexico – Nations Cup Highlights

A few interesting upsets took place at the group stage of the ROC, with Indy Lights champion Patricio O’Ward trouncing last year’s ROC winner David Coulthard, the Scot then defeated by Tom Kristensen.

But the showdown that garnered the biggest interest was the Master-student battle between Sebastian Vettel and Mick Schumacher in the Speed SXS UTV machine.

The two men had partnered the day before to deliver the Nations Cup title to Team Germany, but Schumacher was determined to give the Ferrari driver a run for his money, which he duly did, beating the four-time F1 world champion in his heat.

The 19-year-old’s quarter-final dash ended in defeat however, with former F1 driver Esteban Gutierrez edging Schumacher in a KTM battle to clear his path to the semis, where he was joined joined by Duval, O’Ward and Guerra.

There was no stopping the latter around the purpose-built Foro Sol track however.

Spurred on by the local crowd, Benito Guerra beat countryman O-Ward in his semi-final and than cleaned up in the grand final, winning in two straight heats against Duval in the ROC car, and triumphing in the Race of Champions for the first time.