French pilots Sébastien Loeb and Victor Martins won the team of Champions in the Sydney Olympic stadium on Friday.
For the first time in 37 years of existence, the race of champions took place in the southern hemisphere, at the Sydney Olympic stadium. And it is a French pair that won the team event, a first since 2004 and the victory of Sébastien Loeb and Jean Alesi at the Stade de France. This Friday, Sébastien Loeb triumphed again, this time alongside Victor Martins, during this competition which brings together pilots from different categories of mechanical sports. On an asphalt circuit traced in the stadium, the former nonuple world rally champion, 51, and the 23 -year -old Formula 2 pilot beat Australia in the final.
In this format in two winning rounds, the two French people were opposed to supercars pilots, a competition of passenger cars with very popular V8 engines in Australia and New Zealand. If Sébastien Loeb was beaten by Will Brown (World Supercars Champion), Martins managed to beat Brodie Kostecki, then Will Brown, to win the victory. The two men celebrated this victory with a rear perilous jump, the trademark of Loeb when he reigned on the WRC. “It’s incredible. Victor did a huge job. He beat all the fastest guys when it was only his first participation. Winning the Nations Cup is really a great time, ”said the Alsatian.
Loeb seeded from the individual test
Saturday, the individual event will be on the program and Sébastien Loeb, winner in 2022, and Mick Schumacher, vice-champion in 2023 (the 2024 edition did not take place) are already qualified for the knockout stages. Among the other participants, we find the former F1 world champion Sebastian Vettel, the F1 reserve pilot Valtteri Bottas, the former Dakar winner in Moto Toby Price, or the pilots of Rally Petter and Oliver Solberg. Victor Martins will also be present.
