Race of Champions: David Coulthard defeats Pascal Wehrlein in final
David Coulthard won the 2014 Race of Champions in Barbados, defeating Mercedes Formula 1 reserve driver Pascal Wehrlein in the final
The Scot needed only two races in the best-of-three final to take his first overall victory in the competition, his precise style around the special two-lane version of the Bushy Park track paying dividends.
In the first race of the final driving the KTM X-Bow, Coulthard beat Wehrlein by a second-and-a-half.
He followed that up with a 2.7s victory over Wehrlein in the second heat driving the Ariel Atom, with the German making a late attack but running wide at the final corner.
Coulthard had flirted with elimination in both the quarter final and semi final after dominating his first-round group.
In the quarter final, he took on Petter Solberg in the Volkswagen Polo RX and looked to have the advantage halfway through the tie.
But at the start of his second lap, he carried too much speed into the first corner, running wide over the grass and losing time.
Moments later, Solberg nosed into the barrier on the inside lane at the same turn, also losing time, eventually being defeated by just over one second.
Coulthard then beat six-time Australian V8 Supercars champion Whincup in the semi-final, but a scruffy run through the final corner meant that the 13-time grand prix winner won by a slender 0.1751s.
Whincup had earlier beaten 2004 NASCAR champion Kurt Busch in the quarter final in a battle behind the wheel of identical Audi R8 LMS machines.
Knocked out in the group stages in the top half of the draw were defending champion Romain Grosjean, motorcycle grand prix legend Mick Doohan, Williams F1 tester Susie Wolff and home hero Rhett Watson.
In the bottom half of the draw, Wehrlein beat Robby Gordon in the quarter final, the American struggling with a gear-selection problem after dominating his group.
Wehrlein then comfortably won his semi-final battle driving the Buggy, beating Formula 3 European champion Esteban Ocon.
Indianapolis 500 winner Ryan Hunter-Reay also made the quarter finals in the bottom half of the draw before losing to Ocon.
Eliminated in the group stages were World Touring Car champion Jose Maria Lopez, Jamaican ace Doug Gore, Le Mans legend Tom Kristensen and GP2 Series winner Jolyon Palmer.
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