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3rd December 2005 - Event Report: Race of Champions (for Fast & Modified Magazine)

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Event: Race of Champions, Stade De France, Paris, France

Date: Saturday 3rd December 2005

The Race of Champions is an exciting concept where drivers from all forms of Motorsport come together to do battle around a purpose built special stage track. Previously based in Gran Canaria the event is now hosted in the Stade de France, in the heart of the French capital. Ultimately this action packed event is the best way to settle the common pub argument about who the best driver is overall.

With 52,000 tickets sold before the start of the event and people travelling from all over the world there is no doubt about the popularity of this event. The event is made up of two parts:- Firstly there is the nations cup - this is where the drivers pair off in their respective nationalities to do battle. The second is the Race of Champions where each driver fights it out on his own to prove he is the best of the best. The track is a 1km long figure of eight with a bridge overcross. The surface is a low grip asphalt and there is a straight of 100 metres.

Before the event started unlucky Francois Duval crashed his Clio V6 into a parked Megane in the pit lane and things did not get much better on the track as he smashed his Xsara WRC into a barrier just before the approach to the finish line. This was the start of quite a bit of damage to be done on the day. As the asphalt was new and freshly laid a few days earlier it was quite slippy. The odd rain shower made the driving conditions even worse and although the track was tight and twisty the drivers were still able to perform some amazing power slides and hand brake turns. Accidents on the day included Travis Pastrana who put his Citroen Xsara into the barriers, Minardis Christian Albers suffered mechanical problems and smashed his buggy, Sordo dramtically rolled his buggy cutting a corner too much and finally Kristensen amazingly ended up on top of the barriers in the last round of the super final!

In the first event of the day team Scandanavia took the Race of Nations honours narrowly edging out Team Playstation France in the final. The drivers representing Scandanavia were Mattias Ekstrom and Tom Kristensen and the drivers for Playstation France (Frances 2nd Team) were Stephane Peterhansel and Sebastien Bourdais.

The main event started with the crowd cheering for their home favourite Sebastien Loeb. The atmosphere was electric, if a little bias, and the local crowd soon had a big scare as Travis Pastrana took the lead on lap 1 in his first round tie with Loeb. Approaching the penultimate bend of the last lap Pastrana spun while the pair were neck and neck leaving Loeb to take an easy victory. In round 2 Loeb faced Colin McRae who disposed of Skoda team mate Armin Schwarz in Round 1. McRaes car seemed to be down on power as Loeb easily progressed to the semi final. Here he met Marcus Gronholm who previously had waved goodbye to Peterhansel and Sordo. Loeb came out victorious by almost 3 seconds as Marcus struggled to get into his rhythm. Marcus told Jon44w.Com that he had his first test with Ford coming up on Monday so that might have been distracting him. In the final Loeb met DTM driver Kristensen who disposed of last years winner Heikki Kovalainen in a staggering close semi final match up. Unlucky Heikki lost out by 0.01 of a second. Jeff Gordon, Nelson Piquet Jnr and David Coulthard were all victims of Kristensen. As the final started it was clear whos side the spectators were on. This was the Sebastien Loeb show and no one was going to stop him. By this stage Loeb was so warmed up he was on fire. Kristensen lost the first round of the best of three final and then crash landed on top of the barriers to hand Loeb his first ever Race of Champions victory. The crowd went wild in celebration as their hero one yet another trophy.

Other attractions at the event included a motorbike freestyle team, Terry Grants stunt display, a Renault F1 car driving the track, Jean Ragnotti driving his Maxi R5 Turbo and a Playstation Competition where the winner battled against Sebastien Loeb.

It was great to have the whole stadium take part in a minutes silence to remember Richard Burns who passed away in the last week, another true great in the world of motorsports who may be gone, but will never be forgotten.

Here is some more details on the event…..

Drivers

Sebastien Loeb – WRC (Team France)
Jean Alesi – F1 (Team France)
Colin McRae – WRC (Team Autosport UK)
David Coulthard – F1 (Team Autosport UK)
Felipe Massa – F1 (Team Brazil)
Nelson Piquet Jnr – GP2 (Team Brazil)
Travis Pastrana – US Rally (Team USA)
Jeff Gordon – Nascar (TeamUSA)
Marcus Gronholm – WRC (Team Finland)
Heikki Kovalainen – GP2 (Team Finland)
Mattias Ekstrom – DTM (Team Scandanavia)
Tom Kristensen – DTM (Team Scandanavia)
Francois Duval – WRC (Team Benelux)
Christijan Albers – F1 (Team Benelux)
Armin Schwarz – WRC (Team Germany)
Bernd Schneider – DTM (Team Germany)
Stephane Peterhansel – CC (Team Playstation France)
Sebastien Bourdais – CC (Team Playstation France)
Dan Wheldon – Indy Car (Wild Card)
Dani Sordo – WRC Jnr (Wild Card)

Cars

Citroen Xsara WRC – 2.0l, 16v, 4cyl, turbo, 300bhp, 6 speed, 1230kg
Porsche 911 GT3 Road Challenge – 3.6l, 24v, 6cyl, 381bhp, 6 speed, 1350kg
Renault Megane Trophy – 2.0l, 16v, 4cyl, turbo, 225bhp, 6 speed, 1355kg
ROC Buggy Cars – 1.0l, 16v, 4cyl, 170bhp, 6 speed, 475kg

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