2001 Race of Champions


The 2001 Race of Champions took place on December 7 to 9 at Gran Canaria. It was the 14th running of the event, and the 10th running at Gran Canaria. There was a slight format change for this year - The International Masters event was replaced by the Junior Masters event, open to rally drivers under the age of 30. Seeding for the main Race of Champions event was no longer awarded on the basis of having won a WRC title, but places were awarded for having posted the fastest times in the Nations Cup.
The vehicles used were the Peugeot 206 WRC, the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VI WRC, the SEAT Córdoba WRC, the Saab 93 Rallycross car and the ROC Buggy.
The individual competition was won by Harri Rovanpera, whilst the Nations Cup was won by Spain with Fernando Alonso, Jesús Puras and Rubén Xaus.

Participants

Race of Champions

Nations' Cup

CountryRacing DriverRally DriverMotorcycle Racer
France Paul Belmondo Gilles Panizzi Olivier Jacque
United States Robby Gordon Rhys Millen Shaun Palmer
Great Britain Johnny Herbert Alister McRae James Dobb
Finland Heikki Kovalainen Marcus Grönholm Kari Tiainen
Spain Fernando Alonso Jesús Puras Rubén Xaus
Italy Emanuele Pirro Miki Biasion Valentino Rossi
Germany Frank Biela Armin Schwarz Katja Poensgen
All-Stars Tom Kristensen Harri Rovanpera Troy Bayliss

Legends Race

Group A
DriverWinsLossesBest Time
Stig Blomqvist201'59.88
Timo Salonen111'59.82
Björn Waldegård022'00.84

Group B
DriverWinsLossesBest Time
Miki Biasion212'09.65
Per Eklund112'11.91
Antonio Zanini022'13.13

Junior Rally Masters

Race of Champions

Heat A
DriverWinsLossesBest Time
Armin Schwarz211'56.13
Harri Rovanpera211'56.60
Juha Kankkunen211'56.85
Fernando Alonso031'56.69

Heat B
DriverWinsLossesBest Time
Alister McRae301'56.63
Jeff Gordon211'55.21
Gilles Panizzi121'56.82
Ruben Xaus031'59.61

Nations Cup

Group A
TeamMatch WinsHeat WinsBest Total Time
Spain255'44.53
All-Star245'46.17
UK155'48.53
Italy145'43.19

Group B
TeamMatch WinsHeat WinsBest Total Time
USA265'44.95
France245'51.20
Finland145'46.01
Germany145'56.24