Germany has defended its Race of Champions Nations’ Cup title after Tim♈o Bernhard and Rene Rast defeated Juan Pablo Montoya and Helio Castroneves on the opening day of competition in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Fo🍒llowing Sebastian Vettel’s solo t🌸riumph for Germany last year in Miami, Audi DTM driver Rast and Porsche factory racer Bernhard were tasked with defending the title at the King Fahad International Stadium.

Eleven teams were formed for the Nations’ Cup, with Germany topp🐻ing its group with five victories ahead of Team Latin America, made up of Montoya and Castroneves, which qualified for the semi-finals as the best𓆏 second-placed team.

Montoya and Castroꦺneves advanced to the final after seeing off Team Nordic, made up of Race of Champions veterans Tom Kristensen and Petter Solberg, while Team Germany breezed past home favourites Yazeed Al-Rajhi and Ahmed Bin Khanen of Team Saudi Arabia.

𝓰Rast beat Montoya in the opening heat before Castroneves took the second leg to force a decider, only to lose to last year’s DTM 🐬champion and send Team Latin America down 2-1.

The victory marked a record-extending eighth Nations’ Cup victory for Team Germany, with Rast saying: “It’s a great feeling to have won the Nations Cup, but 💜Timo and I also had a lot of fun.”