Sebastien Loeb won the Race of Champions for the third time after beating David Coulthard in the final race by less than a third of a second.
Loeb beat Coulthard 2-1 in the finals, winning both races in the Race of Champions buggies while Coulthard won in the KTM X-bow.
Loeb reached the final after beating Red Bull star Sebastian Vettel in the quarter-finals. In the semi-finals he knocked out Andy Priaulx, the multiple world touring car champion having narrowly defeated 2007 Race of Champions winner Mattias Ekstrom.
Coulthard’s quarter final opponent was Tanner Foust, the American drift racer spinning on the final lap. In the quarters Coulthard took on Carl Edwards – the NASCAR driver having caused an upset in the previous round by eliminating Michael Schumacher.
Coulthard only narrowly won his semi-final after crashing at the final corner and damaging his front right wheel. He managed to drag his broken car across the line before Edwards caught up.
Schumacher and Vettel were victorious together for Germany in the Nations’ Cup which took place before the individuals’ event.
muckymuck
14th December 2008, 19:23
I was rooting for DC all the way. Too bad they didn’t race the KTM again in the third race. Loeb is such a versatile driver though – a deserved win.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
14th December 2008, 19:27
I was surprised they used the same car twice in the final, actually – would have been good to see them in the 500s or the Focuses again.
Internet
14th December 2008, 19:34
Schumacher being knocked out by a NASCAR driver was the funniest thing I have ever seen.
Matt Fallon
14th December 2008, 22:47
I was in the stadium and those for those final few corners the atmosphere was electric! Wanted DC to win, but deserved win for Loeb, he was mighty impressive.
No doubt Coulthard was the most entertaining driver though, after putting 2 ktm’s and his f1 car in various barriers!
Anyone else here go to the stadium?
Varun.S.Murthy
15th December 2008, 5:33
Any youtube links?? The video was very very buggy here in India..
milos
15th December 2008, 10:12
I do not know how this Race of Champions idea came about,I never really paid much attention to it. But I watched it last night till 3am over here. It is great to see these guys for once not to take things so seriously :-)
Well, Michael Schumacher’s mood was very different when he was on podium after the Race of Nations and when then later interviewed him when he was eliminated from the individual event :-)
Matthew Bass
15th December 2008, 17:13
Was there as one of the 46,312 fans and the atmosphere was phenominal. Was always backing DC but pledged that I wouldn’t mind had he have lost both his races – the fact he amde the final was a brilliant treat. Priaulx’s win against Ekstrom was even more funnier than Schumi’s exit to Edwards. Coulthard again showed he’s wall-prone and the American’s proved they are late starters but all in all a thrilling finale.
Loeb and DC separated by about 0.5seconds, I feared that DC was one of the weakest there – he certainly proved he wasn’t.