Loeb wins record fifth Race of Champions crown

Sebastien Loeb beat Chaz Mostert at the Accor Stadium in Sydney to win Race of Champions for a record fifth time.

The nine-time World Rally champion beat the 24-time Supercars race winner 2-0 in the final to become the undisputed record-holder in the event, moving one ahead of Mattias Ekstrom and Didier Auriol.

The final was a close affair with the Frenchman edging Mostert by a mere 0.27s in the first heat with Polaris RZR side-by-sides. Switching to FC2 rallycross cars for the second head-to-head, it was closer still, with Mostert looking like he could take the final to a third race. Ultimately, Loeb prevailed, crossing the line just 0.16s ahead of Mostert.

Ahead of the final, Loeb was given a bye to skip the Group stage by being the highest-seeded off-road driver in the field.

In the quarter finals, he faced off against Molly Taylor, who’d knocked out her former Extreme E teammate Johan Kristoffersson in Group A. He beat her 2-0 to set up a semifinal duel against Oliver Solberg, who’d qualified after beating Travis Pastrana and Heikki Kovalainen in the Groups and Toby Price in his Quarter Final. Again, Loeb won the two races of the best-of three contest to make the final.

Mostert, meanwhile, had to navigate the Group stage, where he bettered Valtteri Bottas and Kurt Busch. Busch also beat Bottas but fell short in his battle with Mostert.

Like Loeb, Mostert navigated the rest of the competition with 2-0 victories, beating 2015 Race of Champions winner Sebastian Vettel – who beat Brodie Kostecki and Louis Sharp in his group – in the Quarter Finals. Mostert took the win in the first race with Subaru BRZs, and while Vettel attempted a fightback in the SuperCar Lites, a brush with the wall in the final corner ended his charge. He then took on fellow Supercars driver Will Brown in the semis, ensuring that one of the home heroes would make it into the final.

Elsewhere in the field, there were other early upsets with Brown besting both two-time ROC winner David Coulthard and Friday’s Nations Cup winner Victor Martins, while Toby Price – best known for his successes on two wheels – knocked out Petter Solberg and Hayden Paddon in his Group.

Loeb’s overall victory – adding to his wins in 2003, ‘2005, ’08 and ’22 – wasn’t his only record of the night. After taking the Nations Cup on Friday with Martins, he became the first driver to claim victory in both portions of the competition at the same event in RoC’s 37-year history.

“To win the fifth RoC Champion of Champions is great for me,” said Loeb. “It is also special to become the first driver to win both the RoC Nations Cup and the Champion of Champions at the same event. It really could not have been a better weekend for us. Once we won the Nations Cup, I had achieved something from the event and I could relax and enjoy myself even more.

“When I first came to the Race of Champions I was a young driver and every time it is different. But the atmosphere is always the same — everyone is having fun and all the drivers are happy to share and discuss things and enjoy a few drinks.

“In the car, of course you want to win, but outside we are having a good time.”