2000 Race of Champions explained

The 2000 Race of Champions took place on December 10 at Gran Canaria. It was the 13th running of the event, and the ninth running at Gran Canaria. The International Masters contest was held for the final time this year before a format shake-up for 2001, which opened up the main competition to non-rally drivers.

The vehicles used were the Peugeot 206 WRC, The Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VI WRC, the Toyota Corolla WRC, the Saab 93 rallycross car and the ROC Buggy.

The individual competition was won by Tommi Makinen, whilst the Nations' Cup was won by France with Yvan Muller, Gilles Panizzi and Régis Laconi.

Participants

Race of Champions

Driver	Reason for Qualification
Marcus Grönholm	World Rally champion in 2000
Tommi Mäkinen	World Rally champion in 1996, 1997, 1998 and 1999
Didier Auriol	World Rally champion in 1994
Gilles Panizzi	Seeded
Armin Schwarz	Winner in the International Masters
Flavio Alonso	Replaces Tom Kristensen after beating Niall McShea in a play-off
Stig Blomqvist	Winner in the Legends Race
Valentino Rossi	Invitation

Nations Cup

Country	Racing Driver	Rally Driver	Motorcycle Racer
France	Yvan Muller	Gilles Panizzi	Régis Laconi
United States	Danny Sullivan	Rod Millen	Colin Edwards
Finland	Harri Toivonen	Tommi Mäkinen	Vesa Kytönen
Spain	Marc Gené	Jesús Puras	Sete Gibernau
Italy	Emanuele Pirro	Miki Biasion	Valentino Rossi
Germany	Frank Biela	Armin Schwarz	Jürgen Fuchs
Japan	Hiroki Katoh	Kenjiro Shinozuka	Nobuatsu Aoki
All-Stars	Tom Kristensen	Stig Blomqvist	Jeremy McWilliams

• Marcus Grönholm was to represent the All-Star team, but for an unknown reason his place was taken by Blomqvist.

Legends Race

• Per Eklund & Miki Biasion eliminated in the first round.

International Masters

• Flavio Alonso secured his place with the quickest time in the Spanish Masters event.
• Armin Schwarz and Tom Kristensen were handed automatic byes to the semi-finals.

Group A

Driver	Wins
Niall McShea	2
	2
	2
Adruzilo Lopes	0

• McShea advanced with the fastest best time.

Group B

Driver	Wins
Flavio Alonso	3
	2
	1
	0

Nations' Cup

Group A

Team	Match Wins	Heat Wins	Best Total Time
Italy	3	7	5'52.41
	2	6	5'56.44
	1	5	5'55.56
	0	0	6'06.63

Group B

Team	Match Wins	Heat Wins	Best Total Time
	3	7	5'48.82
Finland	1	4	5'51.76
All-Stars	1	4	5'56.59
Germany	1	3	5'52.11

External links

• Information sourced from http://www.atodomotor.com/pagina/ROC.html