Race of Champions
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- This article is about the event held in Paris from 1988 to date. For the 1960s-80s F1 race see Race of Champions (Brands Hatch).
Image:Race of Champions.jpg The Race of Champions is an international motorsport event held at the end of each year, featuring national teams consisting of racing and rally drivers. The race was organized in 1988 by Michèle Mouton and Fredrik Johnson. Originally it was organized in memory of Henri Toivonen and Sergio Cresto.
Every year has featured an individual champion, and many have featured other contests. The top individual wins the Henri Toivonen Memorial trophy and given the title, Champion of Champions.
The Nations Cup was added in 1999. Each nation fields one rally driver and one circuit racer. The second driver often comes from the World Rally Championship, Formula 1, NASCAR, CART, IRL, or Grand Prix. In some instances, circuit drivers who have previous off-road or rally experience have represented their countries as rally drivers. In 2002 and 2004, the United States had NASCAR driver Jimmie Johnson as a rally driver, as Johnson's championships in auto racing have come as an off-road driver, with titles in SCORE International and CORR off-road racing.
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[edit] 2006
The 2006 even will take place on December 16, once again at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis.
The preliminary lineup is:
[edit] 2005
The 2005 event took place on December 3 again at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis.
The individual event was won by Sébastien Loeb after Tom Kristensen crashed out of the final, and the Nations Cup event by Tom Kristensen and Mattias Ekström representing Scandinavia.
Changes from the past included a number of wildcard drivers, the use of the Porsche 911 GT3 instead of the Ferrari 360 and the introduction of the Renault Mégane alongside the Citroën Xsara World Rally Car and now traditional "ROC Buggy" as competition cars.
The drivers that took part were:
| Country | Racing Driver | Rally Driver |
|---|---|---|
| France | Jean Alesi | Sébastien Loeb |
| USA | Jeff Gordon | Travis Pastrana |
| Great Britain | David Coulthard | Colin McRae |
| Finland | Heikki Kovalainen | Marcus Grönholm |
| Brazil | Felipe Massa | Nelson Piquet, Jr. |
| Scandinavia | Tom Kristensen | Mattias Ekström |
| Benelux | Christijan Albers | Francois Duval |
| Team Playstation France | Sébastien Bourdais | Stéphane Peterhansel |
| Germany | Bernd Schneider | Armin Schwarz |
| Wildcard - ROC | Dan Wheldon | Daniel Sordo |
[edit] 2004
The 2004 event took place on December 6 at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis.
The individual event was won by Heikki Kovalainen, and the team event by Jean Alesi and Sébastien Loeb representing France.
There was also a special "World Champions Challenge" race held between 2004 Formula One World Champion Michael Schumacher and 2004 World Rally Champion Sébastien Loeb. Michael eventually won.
Drivers that took part are:
| Country | Racing Driver | Rally Driver |
|---|---|---|
| Brazil | Felipe Massa | Tony Kanaan |
| Finland | Heikki Kovalainen | Marcus Grönholm |
| France | Jean Alesi | Sébastien Loeb |
| France (Team PlayStation) | Sébastien Bourdais | Stéphane Sarrazin |
| Germany | Michael Schumacher | Armin Schwarz |
| Great Britain | David Coulthard | Colin McRae |
| Sweden | Kenny Bräck | Mattias Ekström |
| USA | Casey Mears | Jimmie Johnson |
(Casey Mears was a last-minute substitute for Jeff Gordon, who was hospitalized with the flu and told not to participate in this event by doctors while at NASCAR's awards banquet in New York City that week.)
[edit] History
[edit] See also
[edit] External link
fi:Mestareiden kisa fr:Race of Champions nl:Race of Champions
