The Formula One Times: Race Of Champions (One)

A warm welcome to the first, of a small special edition series of the Race of Champions reported on B/R by The Formula One Times. 

If you like NASCAR, Motocross, World Rally, Touring Cars, Formula One, then stay tuned with the ROC F1 Times as we bring you all the news from Wembley.

With the Race of Champions (ROC, as it will hereby be known) only covered on Pay-to-view TV channels in the United Kingdom and many other countries, the Formula One Times has taken it upon itself to bring you the build-up to the big show and the results.

In this first edition we will bring you:

• A brief history of the event.
• The drivers participating in the ROC.
• The teams in which they belong.

A brief history: The ROC began in 1988, when the concept of a race encapsulated in a stadium was first thought up by Michele Mouton and Frederic Johnsson. It began as a competition between rally drivers, with the idea that they would compete in identical cars, to then be crowned the "Champion of Champions" and receive the Henri Toivonen memorial cup.

Held in the Autodrome de Linas-Montlhery in France, the event featured all eight world champion rally drivers from 1979 to 1988. In the end the final was between Juha Kankkunen and Timo Salonen, with Kankkunen being crowned "Champion of Champions."

2004

The modern ROC event started in 2004 which included F1 drivers, NASCAR drivers, Rally drivers, Le Mans drivers and Touring car drivers. The event was won overall by the current McLaren-Mercedes driver, Heikki Kovalainen who took the individual category, and team France; Sebastien Loeb and Jean Alesi took the team event.

Drivers in 2004 included; Felipe Massa, Tony Kanaan, Marcus Gronholm, Sebastien Bourdais, Stephane Sarrazin, Michael Schumacher, Armin Schwarz, David Coulthard, Colin McRae, Kenny Brack, Mattias Erkstrom, Casey Mears, and Jimmie Johnson.

2005

Held at the Stade De France, the competition was won by Sebastien Loeb (individual), Mattias Erkstrom and Tom Kristensen (nations cup).

Drivers included; Travis Pastrana, Jeff Gordon, Nelson Piquet Jr, Benrd Schneider, Dan Wheldon, Daniel Sordo, and all the 2004 drivers, minus Tony Kanaan.

2006

The last ROC event to be held at the Stade De France, was won by Mattias Erkstron who beat Heikki Kovalainen by 0.0002 seconds in the closest ever semi-final, he then went on to beat defending champion Sebastien Loeb in the final. The Nations cup was won by Heikki Kovalainen and Marcus Gronholm.

2007

The ROC moved to its new location at Wembley Stadium in the UK. The Nations event was won by none other than seven-time F1 world champion Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel, with Mattias Ekstrom beating MS in the individual final.

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