The 2003 Race of Champions took place on November 28–30 at

Gran Canaria Gran Canaria (, ; ), also Grand Canary Island, is the third-largest and second-most-populous island of the Canary Islands, an archipelago off the Atlantic coast of Northwest Africa which is part of Spain. the island had a population of that co ...

for the final time. It was also the last year for three-car teams in the Nations' Cup (including one motorcycle racer), with the focus on rally drivers fading after this year's event due to the later stadium-based venues using all-tarmac tracks. The vehicles used were the

Peugeot 206 WRC The Peugeot 206 WRC is a World Rally Car based on the Peugeot 206. It was used by Peugeot Sport, Peugeot's factory team, in the World Rally Championship from 1999 to 2003. The car brought Peugeot the manufacturers' world title three years in a ro ...

, the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII Group N, the

Subaru Impreza WRX The is a compact car that has been manufactured by the Japanese automaker Subaru since 1992. It was introduced as a replacement for the Leone, with the predecessor's EA series engines replaced by the new EJ series. It is now in its sixth gene ...

and the ROC Buggy. The individual competition was won by

Sébastien Loeb Sébastien Loeb (; born 26 February 1974) is a French professional rally, racing and rallycross driver. He is the most successful driver in the World Rally Championship (WRC), having won the world championship a record nine times in a row. He h ...

, whilst the Nations' Cup was won by the All-Star line-up of

Fonsi Nieto Alfonso González Nieto (born 2 December 1978 in Madrid, Spain), better known as Fonsi Nieto, is a former Grand Prix motorcycle road racer and the nephew of successful Grand Prix motorcycle road racer Ángel Nieto. After success in the 250cc c ...

Gilles Panizzi Gilles Panizzi (born 19 September 1965) is a former French rally driver. Panizzi was born in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, Alpes-Maritimes. Like many of his fellow rally racing countrymen, Panizzi spent a great deal of his developmental driving year ...

and

Cristiano da Matta Cristiano Monteiro da Matta (born 19 September 1973) is a Brazilian former professional racing driver. He won the CART Championship in 2002, and drove in Formula One with the Toyota team from 2003 to 2004. Career biography Origins and early car ...

Participants

Nick Heidfeld Nick Lars Heidfeld (born 10 May 1977) is a German professional racing driver. Despite scoring regular podium finishes in with Williams Grand Prix Engineering, Williams, and in and with BMW in Formula One, BMW Sauber, Heidfeld never won a rac ...

was originally confirmed for Germany but had prior commitments, his brother Sven taking his place. *

Johnny Herbert John Paul "Johnny" Herbert (born 25 June 1964) is a British former racing driver and current television announcer for Sky Sports F1. He raced in Formula One from 1989 to 2000, for seven different teams, winning three races and placing 4th in t ...

was originally confirmed for Great Britain but had prior commitments, Smith taking his place. *

Marcus Grönholm Marcus Ulf Johan Grönholm (born February 5, 1968) is a Finnish former rally and rallycross driver, being part of a family of the Swedish-speaking population of Finland lineage. His son, Niclas Grönholm, is an upcoming FIA World Rallycross Champ ...

was to represent Finland, but due to testing commitments could not arrive in time for the Nations Cup. Salonen took his place. *

Kenny Brack Kenny is a surname, a given name, and a diminutive of several different given names. In Ireland, the surname is an Anglicisation of the Irish ''Ó Cionnaith'', also spelt ''Ó Cionnaoith'' and ''Ó Cionaodha'', meaning "descendant of Cionnaith" ...

was to represent Sweden, but due to injury sustained in a CART accident Wirdheim took his place.

Junior Rally Masters

Group stage

Final

Nations' Cup

Group stage

Group A

Group B

Group C

* USA progress to the semi-finals by having the fastest total time of the losing teams.

Best Times

Knockout stage

Semifinals

Final

Race of Champions

Participation in the main Race of Champions was awarded primarily on the basis of having the best times in the Nations' Cup. There were several exceptions to this rule however -

, as the defending champion, was guaranteed a spot, whilst

, despite having the best time among racing drivers in the Nations' Cup, did not participate.

François Duval François Duval (born 18 November 1980) is a Belgian rally driver. Career 1999–2004 Francois Duval is the son of former rally driver Rene Duval. With victories in four events Duval won the Belgian Citroën Saxo Challenge title in 1999. He b ...

secured his place by winning the Junior event,

Dani Sordo Daniel "Dani" Sordo Castillo (born 2 May 1983) is a Spanish rally driver. He competes in the World Rally Championship for Hyundai Motorsport. He achieved his first WRC victory at the 2013 Rallye Deutschland. Career Sordo began in motocross whe ...

won the Spanish Masters event,

Timo Salonen Timo Salonen (born October 8, 1951) is a Finnish former rally driver who won the 1985 World Rally Championship season for Peugeot. It was commented of him that he stood out from other drivers, because he was overweight, wore thick glasses and smok ...

was an invited 'seeded' driver and Martin Rowe was invited for having won the 2003 PWRC title.

Thomas Biagi Thomas Biagi (born 7 May 1976, in Bologna), is an Italian professional racing driver. Biagi started his career in single seaters, driving in Formula Alfa Boxer and Italian Formula Three Championship, where he was 5th best in 1995, with two wins. ...

meanwhile earned his place by beating

FIA GT The FIA GT Championship was a sports car racing series organized by the Stéphane Ratel Organisation (SRO) at the behest of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The championship was mostly concentrated in Europe, but throughout ...

teammate

Matteo Bobbi Matteo Bobbi (born 2 July 1978 in Milan) is an Italian racing driver with experience in several motor sport categories, including three years as a Minardi test driver in Formula One. During a brief time with Formula One's Minardi as their test d ...

and Volkswagen Cup UK winner Rob Carvell.

Group stage

Group A

Group B

Knockout stage

Quarterfinals

Semifinals

Final

References

External links

*https://web.archive.org/web/20050203014113/http://www.carreradecampeones.org/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Race Of Champions,2003

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

2003 in motorsport 2003 in Spanish motorsport International sports competitions hosted by Spain 2003,Race of Champions