Full Throttle

Michael didn’t even make the final.
World Series by Nissan champion Heikki Kovalainen of Finland is the 2004 Champion of Champions, after besting this year’s World Rally Champion, Sebastien Loeb of France in the final heat in the Race of Champions.

The young driver was ecstatic that he had beaten such a formidable lineup of famous drivers. “I never thought I would be the champion here. It really is a great race and the fans created a super atmosphere.”

To reach the final run in the three-round heat scenario, Kovalainen first had to run a Peugeot 307 WRC car for his first ever time. He defeated David Coulthard, Jean Alesi and seven time Formula One World Champion, Michael Schumacher. The 23-year old newcomer defeated three veteran Formula One drivers in his first go.

Loeb had to beat Tony Kanaanl, Armin Schwarz and last years’ Champion of Champions, Marcus Gronholm.

The second round of the ROC had the remaining drivers run Ferrari 360 Modena Challenge cars. Loeb technically finished first in that round, but was penalized for touching a barrier, costing him ten seconds and the victory for that round. That did not sit well with the fiercely French fans, who first thought their home town hero had won the event. Cheers to jeers after that penalty.

Loeb extracted his ‘revenge’ in that in the subsequent Nations Cup, by taking the Nations Cup with his fellow countryman, Alesi. They beat Kovalainen and MARCUS GRONHOLM of Finland.

Several drivers received barrier penalties, including Schumacher and Tony Kanaan of Brazil, this year’s IRL IndyCar champion. He didn’t mind his penalty that much, but his wife took it harder. Kanaan said he was just honored to be invited to the event. “I came here to have fun and I did.”

“I was less interested in being perfectly prepared for this, because I see it as less serious.” - Michael Schumacher

Kanaan stalled his car at the start and Loeb won that heat. Kanaan said it was just as well, noting the noisy French fans cheering for Loeb. “Can you imagine if I had won? I think the crowd would have jumped onto the track and just beaten the crap out of me.”

Schumacher had said before the competition began that he was taking part for two reasons. One was to have fun. “I was less interested in being perfectly prepared for this, because I see it as less serious.”

What Schumacher was serious about was raising money and awareness for ICM, a research Institute for Brain and Spinal cord Disorders. Schumacher is a supporter of this charity, and spearheaded the driver donations of racing memorabilia for a fundraising auction on 13 December 2004 at the Palais de Congres in Paris. The Institute is the official charity of the Race of Champions

The United States team consisted of NASCAR drivers, Jimmy Johnson and Casey Mears, substituting for the ailing Jeff Gordon, who barely managed to drag himself out of a hospital bed to make it Friday night’s Nextel Cup Banquet at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York City. Gordon literally made it to the Banquet in time to receive his third place honors. He has been suffering all week from a severe case of the flu.

Johnson and Mears flew almost immediately after the banquet to Paris for the Saturday event.

The competition pits 16 drivers from eight countries against each other, in identical cars. Drivers drew for their pairings in the various heats. The drivers this year came from Champ Car, DTM, Formula One, IndyCar, NASCAR, World Rally Championship, and World Series by Nissan.

This was the first time for the 17-year old Race of Champions in the Parisian stadium, which is used for rugby and soccer. The .6-mile asphalt course was laid out in a figure eight configuration with a cross over bridge. The event was nearly sold out with largely loyal crowd, cheering on their countrymen in the Nations Cup competition. The event was organized by Fredrik Johnsson and former driver Michele Mouton.

Source: Crash Net.