The annual Race of Champions event took place in Düsseldorf in Germany on the weekend. There was local television coverage, we understand, but we still managed to miss it. Thanks to the magic of YouTube we’ve been able to catch up on the action and you can too.
As the photo above indicates new Volkswagen WRC driver Sebastien Ogier won the solo event, defeating eight-time Le Mans winner Tom Kristensen. While Team Germany (Sebastien Vettel and Michael Schumacher) had the better of Team Nordic (Tom Kristensen and Juho Hänninen) to win the Nations Cup.
Video highlights can be seen after the break, along with a brag sheet from Volkswagen Motorsport who are chuffed to have their star driver winning trophies already.
Race of Champions in Düsseldorf
Volkswagen rally star Ogier is Champion of Champions/span>
Wolfsburg (04 December 2011). Volkswagen celebrates with the Champion of Champions: Sébastien Ogier, Volkswagen factory driver since 23 November for the World Rally Championship with the Polo R WRC, emerged victorious in his first outing in the Race Of Champions. In the finale the 27-year old Frenchman clearly beat eight-time Le Mans winner Tom Kristensen who had previously beaten Michael Schumacher in the semi-final.
Sébastien Ogier, who will contest the WRC from 2013 for Volkswagen, demonstrated his outstanding driving abilities during the live broadcast on SAT.1 and inspired around 40,000 enthusiastic spectators in the Arena in Düsseldorf. During the competition staged between the world’s best drivers, Volkswagen’s new rally star was the fastest in the field comprised of Formula 1 World Champions Sebastian Vettel, Michael Schumacher and Jenson Button as well as DTM Champions Martin Tomczyk, Timo Scheider and Mattias Ekström and other motorsport greats. Among the race cars used for the Race Of Champions were the Volkswagen Scirocco R-Cup, Audi R8 LMS and the rally Skoda Fabia S2000.
Sébastien Ogier: “My first outing in Volkswagen overalls and this in Germany and then victory in the Race Of Champions – I’m absolutely delighted. They were exciting races against fantastic opponents. It’s not easy for a newcomer to master the many different cars and the track, but I had a good feeling from the word go. It was a great honour for me to be invited for the first time to participate in the Race Of Champions. My thanks also go to the fans that made the atmosphere electric.†Even the beaten Kristensen admitted afterwards: “Sébastien really impressed me and he certainly has a big future ahead of him in rallying with Volkswagen.â€
“The entire Volkswagen team is proud of our new Champion and is delighted with Sébastien about this magnificent win. It’s obviously fantastic that Ogier has won the first prestigious title for Volkswagen only two weeks after his signing. And this against a line-up of such high quality,†praised Volkswagen Motorsport Director Kris Nissen.