Priaulx/Plato beat German pair in ROC Nations' Cup

British touring car aces Andy Priaulx and Jason Plato (LEFT) combined to win the Nations' Cup element of the Race Of Champions at London's Olympic stadium. Running under the Team England 1 banner, they defeated Formula 1 duo Sebastian Vettel and Nico Hulkenberg in the best-of-three final.

Priaulx took on Vettel in the first race, defeating the Ferrari driver in a head to head in Radical SR3 RSX cars (pictured, TOP) by a second. Hulkenberg leveled the score by defeating Plato in the Mercedes AMG-GTS, which set up a decider between him and Priaulx using the KTM X-Bow.

Priaulx held the edge throughout to secure a two-one victory, the first time an English team has won the Nations' Cup.

To reach the final, Priaulx and Plato had to fight through a preliminary round to reach the quarter finals - beating Brazilian duo Nelson Piquet Jr. and Felipe Massa. They then knocked out the Young Stars team of future Lotus F1 racer Jolyon Palmer and DTM champion Pascal Wehrlein, before defeating the second England team of Jenson Button and GT ace Alex Buncombe to reach the final.

Germany advanced to the final by eliminating the Australian team in the quarter final, which included a battle between ex-Red Bull teammates Vettel and Daniel Ricciardo. Vettel won that race in the KTM, with Hulkenberg beating Mick Doohan in a Radical to advance.

They then eliminated the defending champion Team Nordic, featuring Le Mans legend Tom Kristensen and 2003 World Rally champion Petter Solberg.

David Coulthard and Susie Wolff, representing Scotland, were eliminated by Button and Buncombe at the semi-final stage, while F1 star Romain Grosjean fell in the preliminary round.

The Franco-Swiss driver's All Star team, including Olympic legend and European Le Mans Series LMP3 champion Chris Hoy, was defeated by the young stars.

The Race Of Champions individual competition follows on Saturday.

RESULTS - NATIONS' CUP

Final
England 1 (Andy Priaulx/Jason Plato) beat Germany (Sebastian Vettel/Nico Hulkenberg) 2-1

Eliminated in semi-finals:
Nordic (Petter Solberg/Tom Kristensen)
England 2 (Jenson Button/Alex Buncombe)

Eliminated in quarter-finals:
Americas (Jose Maria Lopez/Ryan Hunter-Reay)
Australia (Daniel Ricciardo/Mick Doohan)
Scotland (Susie Wolff/David Coulthard)
Young Stars (Jolyon Palmer/Pascal Wehrlein)

Eliminated in first round:
Brazil (Nelson Piquet Jr/Felipe Massa)
All Stars (Chris Hoy/Romain Grosjean)

Originally on Autosport.com