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Kovalainen clinches Nations' Cup for Finland

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davewilson:
Heikki Kovalainen was the Champion of Champions in 2004, and he showed the same form in this year's Nations' Cup, the first event in the Race of Champions, being held at the Stade de France in Paris.

Kovalainen, who will be starting his Formula One career with Renault in 2007, won all six of his races, leading Finland to a victory in the event. His teammate in the Nations' Cup was Marcus Gronholm, a two-time World Rally champion.

The Finns took the title with a victory over a short-staffed Team USA in the finals: Travis Pastrana had been slated to drive first with NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson, and then with Formula One driver Scot Speed, but both suffered injuries, leaving Pastrana the sole driver for the team.

Pastrana, a highly successful motocross and freestyle rider, had his first taste of a rally car at the 2003 Race of Champions, and last year moved full-time from two wheels to four, winning the 2006 Rally America championship in only his second year in the sport.

Pastrana had made the finals with a string of impressive victories over both race and rally drivers, with victories over German DTM ace Bernd Schneider, 1995 WRC champion Colin McRae and Formula One veteran David Coulthard.

Mistakes aside -- and in the Race of Champions, smallest mistakes can prove costly -- Pastrana particularly impressed in the third-heat win over Coulthard in the semifinal, beating the Scot by 0.495 seconds in the buggies.

In the finals, though, Kovalainen proved to be too much for Pastrana, with the Renault F1 driver taking the lead in the Meganes in the first heat, forcing Pastrana to push a little too hard and spin off. Kovalainen easily took the heat by a 30-second margin.

Pastrana didn't throw in the towel, though, and he looked to be in the game when Gronholm stalled his Xsara at the start line in the rally heat, but then Pastrana clipped the barriers, letting Gronnholm back in the game. It was close, but on the final lap it was Gronholm in the barriers, and pastrana took the win by some three seconds.

The final heat, again in buggies, saw Kovalainen drive a flawless race and take the win -- and the Nations' Cup -- by some 3.4 seconds.

It had been much the same for the Finnish team earlier: they had first beaten off the challenge from Team Scandinavia, with Kovalainen outdriving Le Mans legend Tom Kristensen first in Porsche 911 GT3s, and again in buggies, while Mattias Ekstrom took a singular win for Scandinavia.

The Finland-Playstation France semifinal had been anticipated as the battle of giants, with Kovalainen facing off with the three-time Champ Car champion Sebastein Bourdais, and Gronholm taking on archrival and three-time WRC champion Sebastien Loeb.

Kovalainen set the scene with another flawless drive in the Meganes, while Bourdais spun off into a sand trap; the Finn took the heat win by a margin of nearly 30 seconds. Gronholm could not clinch the final spot for Finland, though, as Loeb took the nail-biter second heat with a slim 1.8-second edge.

With Kovalainen and Bourdais selected as the drivers for the third heat, in the ROC buggies, the young Finn took another calm and collected victory, clinching the heat and the finals berth with a 1.8-second victory over Bourdais.

It was the second Nations' Cup victory for Finland, who also took the inaugural title in the event in 1999, with Tommi Makinen and JJ Lehto leading the charge. Finland and France are now tied for all-time Nations' Cup wins with two apiece.

The individual competition, for the title of Champion of Champions, starts at 7 PM local time.


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