Loeb triumphs on home soil

World rally champion Sebastien Loeb delighted his home crowd by winning the Race of Champions in the Stade de France tonight.

Loeb took the title by beating Tom Kristensen in an anti-climactic best-of-three final in front of a near full house in Paris’ World Cup final venue.

He won the first leg of the final in a photo finish but there was never any doubt as to the winner of the second once multiple Le Mans winner Kristensen crashed his Citroen into the barriers.

Loeb said: “It is very nice, I am very happy. I didn’t start so well but I won so at this moment I feel really happy.”

Kristensen said: “I just tried too hard and braked a little bit too late.

“Obviously I didn’t get to practise in the Citroen so it was the first laps I did in it. I knew it had to be maximum attack. I tried my best.”

Britain’s participation ended in the quarter-finals when Colin McRae was beaten by Loeb after losing time on his final lap. By then David Coulthard had already lost his first-round meeting with Kristensen.

Elsewhere, Felipe Massa, who was under instructions from Ferrari not to speak about Formula One, was pleased just to be away from the maelstrom of his new job for a weekend.

He went out early, losing a second-round tie with Heikki Kovalainen, the defending champion who went out in the quarter-finals, but did not regret taking time out of Ferrari’s busy test schedule.

He said: “Definitely it’s nice to escape from the pressures of Formula One.

“You have all the drivers together and you have a good atmosphere so it is good fun to do this. I can relax and just enjoy it. When you are on the track you are enjoying it but you also want to win.”

Not all the Formula One stars enjoyed their night though, with Christijan Albers enduring an embarrassing exit.

The Dutchman, who will race for Midland next season, slid his buggy into the wall in his first-round contest with Jeff Gordon.

He said: “The gearbox broke and it just locked the wheels and that’s why I went off.”

Earlier, Kristensen led the Scandinavian team to victory in the Nations Cup event.

The British team of Coulthard and McRae beat Germany en route to the semi-finals but their hopes were ended by the French squad of Champ Car ace Sebastien Bourdais and Dakar Rally winner Stephane Peterhansel.

That set up a final against a Scandinavian squad made up of Dane Kristensen and Swede Mattias Ekstrom.

France won the national event last year but suffered a whitewash this evening, with Ekstrom claiming Scandinavia’s title was more than justified.

“The racing has been very close and I think we proved tonight we were the best team and we are very proud of that,” he said.