Viral Now: Castrol's epic soccer-racing mashup

Castrol has brought together two sport stars to create 'Footkhana', a thrilling battle between racing and football.

Lubricant brand and official sponsor of 2014 FIFA World Cup, Castrol has brought together Brazilian football star Neymar Jr and global rally icon Ken Block in an innovative experiment called 'Footkhana' in the run up to the global football event scheduled in June.

Football and gymkhana have very little in common. While one sport finds the sportsman sprinting about 100m for 90 minutes or more, the other one sits in a car for little more than three minutes at a time. To highlight how tough the motorsport can be, Castrol pits gymkhana racer Ken Block against Brazilian superstar Neymar in its latest campaign, 'Footkhana'.

The four-and-a-half-minute film opens with Block encircling Neymar and inviting him for the ultimate challenge of the penalty shootout. While Neymar with his freestyle footballers uses his light-footed trickery, Block utilises his stunt driving skills to score goals. The revving and unexpected thrills, however, end on a tie as the sports stars warmly greet each other, hinting at an equally thrilling football extravaganza in Brazil this June.

The campaign posted on YouTube has already garnered 14,563,614 views as on Friday evening.

Castrol has been associated with the tagline 'It's More Than Just Oil. It's Liquid Engineering'. The global lubricant brand has also been associated with various sporting events including racing, cricket and rugby. It is the official sponsor of the 2014 FIFA World Cup and has been launching multiple initiatives to create buzz around the event.

Castrol manufactures and markets automotive, non-automotive lubricants and related services. The company also supplies metal working fluids and high performance lubricants.

(Viral Now is a section about videos that are catching people's fancy on social media).