The stars of the Stade for this afternoon's Race of Champions – Nations Cup were without doubt Heikki Kovalainen and Marcus Grönholm, who will take the trophy back to Finland for the second time in the event's history. But defeated finalist Travis Pastrana, who carried the Stars and Stripes all the way to the final, also produced a giant killing performance despite not having a team-mate following injuries to his initially-planned team-mate Jimmie Johnson and then to his last-minute replacement Scott Speed...
Renault F1's latest recruit Heikki Kovalainen, who sprung to international acclaim by winning the Race of Champions title outright in Paris two years ago, was beaming on the podium after beating X-Games phenomenon Pastrana twice in the best-from-three final.
"Marcus and I have been trying to win the ROC-Nations Cup since we first formed a team together in Paris in 2004. We were determined to do it this year and now we've succeeded. All credit to Travis though. He drove really well and I had to push as hard as I could to beat him in our two heats together in the final."
Two-time World Champion Marcus Grönholm was also smiling as he took his prize, but readily admitted that he wasn't on best form this afternoon.
"It's really Team Heikki – not Team Finland – that has won this," he recognised after failing to win a single duel in the team's run-up to the finale.
"It's the first time I've been awarded a cup after not winning anything! But hey, maybe this means my luck is turning and I will start winning from here…"
