22/11/2006
NEWS STORY
It has been confirmed today that rally hero Sébastien Loeb – who was forced to sit out the recent rounds of the 2006 World Rally Championship owing to injury – has been cleared by medical experts to make his much-awaited return to competitive action and will be present in Paris on December 16.
In front of home fans, he will be eager to celebrate his recently-secured 2006 WRC Drivers' title by repeating his victory in The 2005 Race of Champions.
For French fans, it will be a unique opportunity to show their appreciation for the Citroën driver's third world crown, especially since he will be teaming up with another three-time champion – ChampCar racer Sébastien Bourdais – in an attempt to retrieve the ROC-Nations Cup for France after it was clinched twelve months ago by Team Scandinavia.
The list of other national teams looking to topple the outgoing ROC-Nations Cup winners Tom Kristensen and Mattias Ekström, who will be present at the Stade de France to defend their trophy, features equally well-qualified line-ups from England (Jenson Button/Andy Priaulx), Finland (Heikki Kovalainen/Marcus Grönholm), France 2 (Yvan Muller/Stéphane Peterhansel), Germany (Bernd Schneider/Armin Schwarz), Scotland (David Coulthard/Colin McRae), Spain (Nani Roma/Dani Sordo) and the USA (Jimmie Johnson/Travis Pastrana).
All these drivers will have the honour of inaugurating a new circuit design that has seen IMP's Michèle Mouton optimise the full length of the stadium and infield space to produce an even faster, more spectacular figure-of-eight layout. Not only does the new track promise to be quicker – with tops speeds expected to exceed 140kph – but drivers will also spend more time side-by-side to give spectators even more to cheer about.
"The concept of The Race of Champions," reaffirms IMP President Fredrik Johnsson, "is to bring together the top names from motor sport's most prestigious disciplines in identical cars to determine who is the fastest of them all. And with all the action centred in a single arena, it gives spectators not only an opportunity to see a unique show but also a chance to watch some of the world's top drivers from closer quarters than they could do at a conventional circuit or rally stage."
Competitors in The 2006 Race of Champions and The ROC-Nations Cup will get to sample a number of exciting cars, from the three-time WRC Manufacturers' WRC-winning Citroën WRC and the powerful Porsche 911 GT3 Road Challenge, to the spectacular Renault Mégane Trophy and the celebrated ROC Car buggies. For the first time, a stunning new addition to this year's list will be the Aston Martin V8 GT Rally.
The show will be further spiced up with demonstration runs by a long list of competition cars, including the Formula 1 World Championship-winning Renault F1, the 2006 WTCC-winning BMW, Citroën's 2007 WRC challenger the C4 WRC and the 2006 FIA Dakar-winning Mitsubishi Pajero.