Red Bull ROCs

Red Bull athletes manned up big-time in Sunday’s Race of Champions at Wembley Stadium.

Touring car ace Mattias Ekström (pictured above) took two of three heats from Michael Schumacher to win his second straight individual ROC title. On the Nations Cup side, Sebastian Vettel did Scuderia Toro Rosso proud when — after Team Germany partner Schumacher fell to Finnish foe Heikki Kovalainen — he reeled off back-to-back victories over Marcus Grönholm and Kovalainen in the best-of-three final to stake Germany’s claim as the superior nation.

“I asked David Coulthard what to do in preparation for this,” Vettel said. “He said you are not allowed to come to the event not drunk. Fortunately, I didn’t follow his advice.”

On the United States front, NASCAR’s fair champion, Jimmie Johnson, bowed out in the first round. His teammate, X Games star Travis Pastrana, fell to Ekström one round later.