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 DriverReason for Qualification Marcus GrönholmWorld Rally champion in 2000 Stig BlomqvistWinner in the Legends Race François DuvalWinner in the Junior Masters Valentino RossiInvitation Juha KankkunenSeeded Armin Schwarz Best times among Rally Drivers in Nations' Cup Harri Rovanpera Gilles Panizzi Alister McRae Jeff GordonFastest Racing Driver in Nations' Cup Rubén XausFastest Motorcycle Racer in Nations' Cup Flavio AlonsoWinner in the Spanish Masters

Nations' Cup

CountryRacing DriverRally DriverMotorcycle RacerFrance Paul Belmondo Gilles Panizzi Olivier JacqueUnited States Robby Gordon Rhys Millen Shaun PalmerGreat Britain Johnny Herbert Alister McRae James DobbFinland Heikki Kovalainen Marcus Grönholm Kari TiainenSpain Fernando Alonso Jesús Puras Rubén XausItaly Emanuele Pirro Miki Biasion Valentino RossiGermany Frank Biela Armin Schwarz Katja PoensgenAll-Stars Tom Kristensen Harri Rovanpera Troy Bayliss

Legends Race

Antonio Zanini was a late substitute for Hannu Mikkola.

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 DriverWinsLossesBest Time François Duval302'13.10 Sébastien Loeb212'16.23 Gabriel Pozzo122'16.69 Miguel Campos032'15.80

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 Rubén Xaus031'59.61

Nations Cup Group A

TeamMatch WinsHeat WinsBest Total Time255'44.53 All-Star245'46.17 UK155'48.53 Italy145'43.19

Group B

TeamMatch WinsHeat WinsBest Total Time265'44.95245'51.20 Finland145'46.01 Germany145'56.24

References

External links https://web.archive.org/web/20020926050008/http://www.carreradecampeones.org/