# 2006 Race of Champions

The 2006 Race of Champions took place on 16 December at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis.
The Nations' Cup was competed first and the event was won by Finland, with Heikki Kovalainen winning over United States' Travis Pastrana on the final round. Kovalainen's teammate was the two-time World Rally Champion Marcus Grönholm, whereas Pastrana drove all the rounds for the US team, after both Jimmie Johnson and his replacement, Scott Speed, had to withdraw from competing due to injuries.
The individual event and the Henri Toivonen Memorial Trophy was won by Mattias Ekström of Sweden. He beat Kovalainen by 0.0002 seconds in the semi-finals, and defending champion, Sébastien Loeb of France, in the finals.
The cars used were the Citroën Xsara WRC, the Renault Mégane Trophy, the Porsche 996 GT3 RSR, the Aston Martin V8 Vantage Rally GT and the ubiquitous ROC Buggy.

## Participants

| Team | Racing driver | Rally driver |
| Autosport England | James Thompson | Andy Priaulx |
| Finland | Heikki Kovalainen | Marcus Grönholm |
| PlayStation France | Sébastien Bourdais | Sébastien Loeb |
| Auto Hebdo France | Yvan Muller | Stéphane Peterhansel |
| Germany | Bernd Schneider | Armin Schwarz |
| Scandinavia | Tom Kristensen | Mattias Ekström |
| F1 Racing Scotland | David Coulthard | Colin McRae |
| Spain | Nani Roma | Dani Sordo |
| United States | Travis Pastrana | Travis Pastrana |

## Race of Champions
### Racing Group

| Round of 16 | Round of 16 | Quarter-finals | Quarter-finals | | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Final | Final |
| | | Aston Martin V8 Vantage Rally GT | Aston Martin V8 Vantage Rally GT | | | | |
| | | Sébastien Bourdais | 2.23.5206 | | | |
| | | Andy Priaulx | 2.26.1519 | | | |
| | | | | | Renault Mégane Trophy | Renault Mégane Trophy | |
| | | | | | Sébastien Bourdais | 2.15.9999 |
| | | | | | Yvan Muller | 2.16.0170 |
| | | Aston Martin V8 Vantage Rally GT | Aston Martin V8 Vantage Rally GT | | | | |
| | | Yvan Muller | 2.23.0462 | | | |
| | | David Coulthard | 2.25.6639 | | | |
| | | | | | | | Renault Mégane Trophy | Renault Mégane Trophy |
| | | | | | | | Sébastien Bourdais | 2.15.1278 |
| | | | | | | | Mattias Ekström | 2.12.0659 |
| | | Aston Martin V8 Vantage Rally GT | Aston Martin V8 Vantage Rally GT | | | | | |
| | | Mattias Ekström | 2.19.9117 | | | | | |
| ROC Car | ROC Car | | Mattias Ekström | 2.19.9117 | | | | |
| ROC Car | ROC Car | Bernd Schneider | 2.21.7284 | | | | | |
| Bernd Schneider | 2:32.9344 | Bernd Schneider | 2.21.7284 | | | | | |
| Bernd Schneider | 2:32.9344 | | | | Renault Mégane Trophy | Renault Mégane Trophy | | |
| James Thompson | 2:35.6080 | | | | Renault Mégane Trophy | Renault Mégane Trophy | | |
| James Thompson | 2:35.6080 | | | | Mattias Ekström | 2.14.6003 | | |
| | | | | | Heikki Kovalainen | 2.14.6005 |
| | | Aston Martin V8 Vantage Rally GT | Aston Martin V8 Vantage Rally GT | | | | |
| | | Tom Kristensen | 2.23.2352 | | | |
| | | Heikki Kovalainen | 2.23.1061 | | | |

### Rallying Group

| Quarter-finals | Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | | Final | Final |
| Porsche 996 GT3 RSR | Porsche 996 GT3 RSR | | | |
| Sébastien Loeb | 2:18.9701 | | | |
| Sébastien Loeb | 2:18.9701 | Citroën Xsara WRC | Citroën Xsara WRC | | |
| Nani Roma | 2:20.4327 | Citroën Xsara WRC | Citroën Xsara WRC | |
| Nani Roma | 2:20.4327 | Sébastien Loeb | 2:18.8750 | |
| Porsche 996 GT3 RSR | Porsche 996 GT3 RSR | | Sébastien Loeb | 2:18.8750 | |
| Porsche 996 GT3 RSR | Porsche 996 GT3 RSR | Travis Pastrana | 2:22.4944 | |
| Stéphane Peterhansel | 2:40.3303 | Travis Pastrana | 2:22.4944 | |
| Stéphane Peterhansel | 2:40.3303 | | | | Citroën Xsara WRC | Citroën Xsara WRC |
| Travis Pastrana | 2:29.2107 | | | | Citroën Xsara WRC | Citroën Xsara WRC |
| Travis Pastrana | 2:29.2107 | | | | Sébastien Loeb | 2:24.5987 |
| Porsche 996 GT3 RSR | Porsche 996 GT3 RSR | | | | | Sébastien Loeb | 2:24.5987 |
| Porsche 996 GT3 RSR | Porsche 996 GT3 RSR | | | | Colin McRae | 2:25.5745 |
| Dani Sordo | 2:16.8528 | | | | Colin McRae | 2:25.5745 |
| Dani Sordo | 2:16.8528 | Citroën Xsara WRC | Citroën Xsara WRC | | | |
| Armin Schwarz | 2:26.9785 | Citroën Xsara WRC | Citroën Xsara WRC | | | |
| Armin Schwarz | 2:26.9785 | Dani Sordo | 2:21.0805 | | | |
| Porsche 996 GT3 RSR | Porsche 996 GT3 RSR | | Dani Sordo | 2:21.0805 | | | |
| Porsche 996 GT3 RSR | Porsche 996 GT3 RSR | Colin McRae | 2:20.2493 | |
| Colin McRae | 2:15.9343 | Colin McRae | 2:20.2493 | |
| Marcus Grönholm | 2:19.0594 | | | |

### Final

| Driver 1 | Time 1 | Car | Driver 2 | Time 2 |
| Mattias Ekström | 2:21.2617 | Citroën Xsara WRC | Sébastien Loeb | 2:21.4500 |
| Mattias Ekström | 2:16.1273 | Renault Mégane Trophy | Sébastien Loeb | 2:22.4954 |

## The Nations Cup

| Round of 16 | Round of 16 | Quarter-finals | Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Final | Final |
| | | Germany | 1 | | |
| | | USA | 2 | | |
| | | | | USA | 2 |
| | | | | F1 Racing Scotland | 1 |
| | | F1 Racing Scotland | 2 | | |
| | | Autosport England | 1 | | |
| | | | | | | USA | 1 |
| | | | | | | Finland | 2 |
| | | Finland | 2 | | | | |
| | | Scandinavia | 1 | | | | |
| | | | | Finland | 2 | | |
| | | | | PlayStation France | 1 |
| | | Spain | 0 | | |
| | | PlayStation France | 2 | | |
| PlayStation France | 2 | PlayStation France | 2 | | |
| Auto Hebdo France | 0 | | | | |

### Preliminary Round

| Team 1 | Time 1 | Score | Team 2 | Time 2 | Car |
| PlayStation France | PlayStation France | 2-0 | Auto Hebdo France | Auto Hebdo France | |
| Sébastien Bourdais | 2:29.1005 | 2-0 | Yvan Muller | 2:29.7141 | Porsche 996 GT3 RSR |
| Sébastien Loeb | 2:33.3325 | 2-0 | Stéphane Peterhansel | 2:35.8314 | Aston Martin V8 Vantage Rally GT |

### Quarterfinals

| Team 1 | Time 1 | Score | Team 2 | Time 2 | Car |
| Germany | Germany | 1-2 | USA | USA | |
| Bernd Schneider | 2:37.6729 | 1-2 | Travis Pastrana | 2:30.4220 | Porsche 996 GT3 RSR |
| Armin Schwarz | 2:33.2329 | 1-2 | Travis Pastrana | 2:37.1421 | Aston Martin V8 Vantage Rally GT |
| Bernd Schneider | 2:47.5800 | 1-2 | Travis Pastrana | 2:43.6257 | ROC Car |
| F1 Racing Scotland | F1 Racing Scotland | 2-1 | Autosport England | Autosport England | |
| David Coulthard | 2:24.8384 | 2-1 | James Thompson | 2:28.6790 | Porsche 996 GT3 RSR |
| Colin McRae | 2:31.8388 | 2-1 | Andy Priaulx | 2:31.4565 | Aston Martin V8 Vantage Rally GT |
| David Coulthard | 2:41.6900 | 2-1 | James Thompson | 2:47.4845 | ROC Car |
| Finland | Finland | 2-1 | Scandinavia | Scandinavia | |
| Heikki Kovalainen | 2:24.1735 | 2-1 | Tom Kristensen | 2:27.2222 | Porsche 996 GT3 RSR |
| Marcus Grönholm | 2:31.3845 | 2-1 | Mattias Ekström | 2:26.9936 | Aston Martin V8 Vantage Rally GT |
| Heikki Kovalainen | 2:35.3213 | 2-1 | Tom Kristensen | 2:39.3472 | ROC Car |
| Spain | Spain | 0-2 | PlayStation France | PlayStation France | |
| Nani Roma | 2:36.5373 | 0-2 | Sébastien Bourdais | 2:20.5726 | Porsche 996 GT3 RSR |
| Dani Sordo | 2:28.7845 | 0-2 | Sébastien Loeb | 2:24.2804 | Aston Martin V8 Vantage Rally GT |

### Semifinals

| Team 1 | Time 1 | Score | Team 2 | Time 2 | Car |
| USA | USA | 2-1 | F1 Racing Scotland | F1 Racing Scotland | |
| Travis Pastrana | 3:07.1516 | 2-1 | David Coulthard | 2:32.1668 | Renault Mégane Trophy |
| Travis Pastrana | 2:29.3571 | 2-1 | Colin McRae | 2:35.3752 | Citroën Xsara WRC |
| Travis Pastrana | 2:34.4833 | 2-1 | David Coulthard | 2:34.9779 | ROC Car |
| Finland | Finland | 2-1 | PlayStation France | PlayStation France | |
| Heikki Kovalainen | 2:25.3105 | 2-1 | Sébastien Bourdais | 2:53.0120 | Renault Mégane Trophy |
| Marcus Grönholm | 2:24.6853 | 2-1 | Sébastien Loeb | 2:22.8908 | Citroën Xsara WRC |
| Heikki Kovalainen | 2:28.9772 | 2-1 | Sébastien Bourdais | 2:32.7080 | ROC Car |

### Final

| Team 1 | Time 1 | Score | Team 2 | Time 2 | Car |
| USA | USA | 1-2 | Finland | Finland | |
| Travis Pastrana | 2:56.4534 | 1-2 | Heikki Kovalainen | 2:21.1936 | Renault Mégane Trophy |
| Travis Pastrana | 2:25.0260 | 1-2 | Marcus Grönholm | 2:28.8001 | Citroën Xsara WRC |
| Travis Pastrana | 2:32.1670 | 1-2 | Heikki Kovalainen | 2:28.7805 | ROC Car |