The 2023 edition of the competition ended with a record victory Race of Championsfor the second consecutive time held in Sweden, in Piteå. A real Scandinavian party made possible not only by the success of Norway in the Nations Cup, again for the second time in a row, but also for the triumph of Mattias Ekstrom, who beat Mick Schumacher in the final in his home race. An almost ‘cursed’ competition for the Schumacher family, which reached the final several times both with the current Mercedes third driver and with his father Michael, but never went beyond 2nd place. For Ekström, by contrast, success in 2023 is equivalent to fourth personal statement in the Race of Champions, thus equaling the primacy of two other French drivers.
On the one hand, the 1994 WRC champion Didier Aurioland on the other the nine-time world champion of the same category Sebastien Loeb, which took its fourth and last success in 2022. A competition that since 1988, the year in which the first absolute edition was held in France, has always welcomed the biggest international names in motor sport, from the top performers of rally competitions to those of the single-seaters, up to the leading protagonists of the GT series. An event, therefore, unique in its kind, and which boasts a highly prestigious roll of honor. In 35 years of history, with only two editions not held (2016 and 2021) and one held virtually (2020), there are six riders who boast more than one victory in this tournament. In addition to the three already mentioned, Auriol, Loeb and Ekström, the other multiple winners respond to the name of two other Scandinavians such as Stig Blomqvist and Juha Kankkunenas well as a former F1 driver David Coulthard, all of them stopped at two hits. Among the individual winners, there are signatures of F1 such as Juan Pablo Montoya and Sebastian Vettel, without excluding Heikki Kovalainen and Romain Grosjean. Speaking of the French, an eight-time WRC champion like Sébastien Ogier also emerges, together with other legendary names of the rally like Carlos Sainz, the Finns Tommi Makinen and Marcus Grönholm, and the late Colin McRae.
On the other hand, the presence of pilots is scarce Italians. In fact, in the roll of honour, the Tricolor is represented only by Andrea Aghiniwinner in 1992, exactly in the same year in which he also triumphed in the Sanremo Rally. Speaking of nations, the ROC only introduced the Nations Cup in 1999, where Italy is not yet present. On the contrary, the greatest number of successes belongs to Germanystop at share 8 and six lengths clear of Finland, France and two groups which include the Nordics and All-Stars of nations such as Brazil, France, Spain and Great Britain.
Roll of Honor Race of Champions
EDITION | WINNER | NATIONS CUP |
France 1988 | Juha Kankkunen | |
Germany 1989 | Stig Blomqvist | |
Spain 1990 | Stig Blomqvist | |
Spain 1991 | Juha Kankkunen | |
Spain 1992 | Andrea Aghini | |
Spain 1993 | Didier Auriol | |
Spain 1994 | Didier Auriol | |
Spain 1995 | Francois Delecour | |
Spain 1996 | Didier Auriol | |
Spain 1997 | Carlos Sainz | |
Spain 1998 | Colin McRae | |
Spain 1999 | Didier Auriol | Finland |
Spain 2000 | Tommi Makinen | France |
Spain 2001 | Harri Rovanperä | Spain |
Spain 2002 | Marcus Gronholm | United States |
Spain 2003 | Sebastien Loeb | All-Stars |
France 2004 | Heikki Kovalainen | France |
France 2005 | Sebastien Loeb | Scandinavia |
France 2006 | Mattias Ekstrom | Finland |
England 2007 | Mattias Ekstrom | Germany |
England 2008 | Sebastien Loeb | Germany |
China 2009 | Mattias Ekstrom | Germany |
Germany 2010 | Philip Albuquerque | Germany |
Germany 2011 | Sebastien Ogier | Germany |
Thailand 2012 | Romain Grosjean | Germany |
Barbados 2014 | David Coulthard | Germany |
England 2015 | Sebastian Vettel | Nordic countries |
US 2017 | Juan Pablo Montoya | Germany |
Saudi Arabia 2018 | David Coulthard | Germany |
Mexico 2019 | Benito Guerra | Nordic countries |
2020 (virtual) | Timmy Hansen | All-Stars |
Sweden 2022 | Sebastien Loeb | Norway |
Sweden 2023 | Mattias Ekstrom | Norway |
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