2005 Race of Champions

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Ed
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2005 Race of Champions

Post by Ed » Sat Dec 03, 2005 5:52 pm

Today, the 3rd of December, the 18th Race of Champions takes place at the Stade de France.

20 of the best circuit and rally drivers go head to head. The 2 groups (circuit drivers and rally drivers) race each other and the winner of each group goes head to head in the final to determine the Champion o Champions.

The same drivers compete again in the Nations Cup where countries go head to head.

This year entries are:

France
Sebastien Loeb (WRC) & Jean Alesi (DTM)

USA
Travis Pastrana (X-Games) & Jeff Gordon (NASCAR)

Great Britain
Colin McRae (WRC) & David Coulthard (F1)

Finland
Marcus Gronholm (WRC) & Heikki Kovalainen (GP2)

Brazil
Felipe Massa (F1) & Nelson Piquest Jr. (GP2/A1GP)

Scandinavia
Mattias Ekstrom (DTM) & Tom Kristensen (Endurance)

Team Benelux
Francois Duval (WRC) & Christijan Albers (F1)

Team Playstation France
Stephane Peterhansel (Rally-raid) & Sebastien Bourdais (Champ Car)

Germany
Armin Schwarz (WRC) & Bernd Schneider (DTM)

Wild Card
The Race of Champions
Country
Great Britain
Dan Wheldon (IRL)

Spain
Daniel Sordo (WRC)

The event will also include parade laps from the F1 Title winner Renault R25 driven by Franck Montagny and the first ever Renault F1 car, the RS01 driven by Rene Arnoux.
And for the first time in France, a Champ Car with be paraded at the Stade de France. Frenchman Sebastien Bourdias will drive the Newman-Haas V8 Champ Car.

For more information on the Race of Champions, go to Official Race of Champions Web Site

Ed
NewsOnF1 Editor
NewsOnF1 Editor
Posts: 22255
Joined: Wed Jan 19, 2005 1:24 pm

Post by Ed » Sun Dec 04, 2005 10:44 am

Sebastien Loeb was crowned the 2005 'Champions of Champions' after winning the Super-final shootout with Tom Kristensen.
In the first heat the 2 crossed side by side with just 0.0867 seconds separating them.

The final for the circuit drivers was even closer with Kristensen beating Kovalainen by a mere 0.0067 seconds!

Loeb reached the final after beating Travis Pastrana, Collin McRae and Marcus Gonholm while Kristensen beat Nelson Piquet Jr., Geff Gordon and Heikki Kovalainen

Sebastien Loeb said:
Winning the 2003 Race of Champions in the Canary Islands was nice, and I was delighted when I won the Nations Cup here in Paris twelve months ago with Jean Alesi
But winning the Champion of Champions crown here at the Stade de France tonight in front of such a huge home crowd is really something special. I could hear them cheering me on from inside the car! I couldn't be happier. In rallying, you build up a win over a period of days and you tend to see it coming. But in an event like this, you're under pressure from the word go, right up to the chequered flag. You just never know what can happen next.
Tom Kristensen said:
Given how close it was with the Renaults, it was maximum attack or nothing with the Citro?n, a car which Seb has driven all year long.
I didn't have all that much time to familiarise myself with it and I ended up making an early mistake which put paid to any hope I had of achieving a grand slam today. But I can't complain. I won the Nations Cup and I reached the final of the Race of Champions.
Tom Kristensen and Mattias Ekstrom won the Nations Cup for team Scandinavia.

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