DTM Champion Mattias Ekstrom won this past weekends Race of Champions (ROC) in front of 60,000 parisians. The fans left the Staid de Paris dejected as Ekstrom defeated Frenchman Sebastian Loeb (2-0) in the finals for the Individual Trophy while Heikki Kovalainen helped Finland win the Nations cup…
Meanwhile in another pathetic display of America’s “foreign policy,” Travis Pastrana. endured running as the sole representative for Team USA. After Jimmy Johnson fell off a golf cart, the reigning IRL Champion Sam Hornish Jr. declined to fill in for Johnson. Then Scott Speed wrecked during the final day of testing in Jerez (Friday) and complaining of a sore wrist scratched himself from the event. “RASSCAR” regulars Curt Busch and Robby Gordon also declined last minute requests to partner Pastrana…
Amazingly Pastrana made it all the way to the Nations Cup Finals by knocking off Germany (Bernd Schneider) and Scotland (David Coulthard, Colin McCrae) before loosing to Finland. (2-1)
In the finals Pastrana lost to Kovalainen in round 1, but defeated Marcus Gronholm in round 2 before faltering to Kovalainen in round 3, the winner take all “rubber” match…
Interestingly Sweden’s Ekstrom defeated reigning WRC Champion Loeb in the very Citroen Xsara WRC that Loeb has used to capture 3 successive WRC Titles in round 1…
After 3 years in Paris, the ROC will move to its new home next year: Britain, in Wembley Stadium…
