| The first edition of the Race of Champions, held in Paris in 1988, celebrated the 10th anniversary of the World Championship for Rally Drivers gathering all the official World Rally Champions in a competition on identical cars. The event was held in memory of the late Henri Toivonen, who died at the Corsica rally while leading the world championship in 1986. The Henri Toivonen Memorial trophy is still awarded to the winner of the individual Race of Champions.
The Race of Champions was originally conceived as the ultimate shoot-out between the best international rally stars. But experts from other disciplines have given the rally drivers a run for their money over the years. They include MotoGP's Valentino Rossi, seven-time Le Mans 24 Hours winner Tom Kristensen, four-time NASCAR Champion Jeff Gordon, seven-time F1 world champion Michael Schumacher, Renault F1’s Heikki Kovalainen and Audi’s Swedish DTM Champion Mattias Ekstrom. At Wembley in 2007, Ekström beat the ever-dominant Michael Schumacher in The Race of Champions final to claim the Champion of Champions title for the second succesive year. However, the fun was interrupted for a touching tribute to the late Colin McRae. Event Organiser Fredrik Johnsson gave a short speech and the crowd stood in silence for a lone piper but were then lifted as brother Alister entered the stadium in the unmistakeable 555 Subaru Impreza 'N1 WRC' from 1996, Colin's 'champion year'. |
The Champions |
Marcus Gronholm |
Jenson Button |
Travis Pastrana |
The REAL Stig (Blomqvist). |
Petter Solberg - ever the showman! |
Michael Schumacher |
Hekki Kovalanen - tries to lap Herr Schumacher! |
The Red Bull display team |
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