Loeb is the champion of champions

Loeb, who lost out in the superfinal last season, beat Tom Kristensen 2-0 to take the crown for the first time since the event moved to the Stade de Paris last season.

Loeb had been the winner in the last event held on the Canary Islands.

Kristensen was edged by Loeb in the 'racing' section of the superfinal, run in the Renault Meganes. The Dane had got the advantage at the halfway point of the race, but made a small mistake on the final hairpin, understeering slightly wide, giving Loeb the first race victory.

When the pair were matched in Loeb's more familiar Citroen Xsara WRC cars, the title was handed to the double World Rally Champion because Kristensen locked up and rode over the barrier at the second hairpin, retiring form the race instantly.

Loeb got out of his car to celebrate, but was told to complete the race distance to win, cheered on by Kristensen.

Last year's Race of Champions winner Heikki Kovalainen made it through to the 'racer' final, but was eliminated by Kristensen in one of the closest races of the day. The pair seemingly crossed the line together, however the computer timing awarded the victory to Kristensen by just 0.0067 seconds.

Marcus Gronholm beat both Dani Sordo and Stephane Peterhansel to get to the ralliers final, but lost out to Loeb, despite the Frenchman clouting the concrete barrier hard on the final lap.

The Formula One drivers in the field made fairly early exits. Christijan Albers handed Jeff Gordon an easy victory in the first wet race of the night, after the Dutchman locked up and slid into the barriers after a gearbox problem.

David Coulthard went out to Kristensen in his first race, with only Felipe Massa winning a race from the current crop on the F1 grid. Massa won the battle of Ferrari Formula One drivers past and present by beating the crowd's favourite Jean Alesi. However Massa was eliminated from the competition by Kovalainen.

NASCAR ace Gordon looked impressive by knocking out Nations Cup finalist Sebastien Bourdais, however his Megane was left stranded at the start line in his tie up with Kristensen, handing the Dane an easy passage to the racers' final.

Rally Australia winner Francois Duval entertained in possibly his last competitive outing in a Citroen Xsara WRC.

Duval made a few mistakes on his run, and seemingly gave up and slowed to a halt under the bridge on the final lap. However, the Belgian later said that his engine had switched off in the middle of the run, but he had managed to restart it.

Then he decided to wow the crowds with some sliding on the wet track on his in lap, but clouted the concrete barriers hard with the side of his car on his penultimate turn, thankfully just damaging his pride.

Colin McRae had something to smile about when he beat his Skoda teammate Armin Schwarz but lost out to Loeb in the semis.

Preliminary rounds:

Jeff Gordon (USA) v Christijan Albers (Ned)
Sebastien Bourdais (Fra) v Dan Wheldon (GBR)
Nelson Piquet Jr (Bra) v Mattias Ekstrom (Swe)
David Coulthard (GBR) v Tom Kristensen (Den)

Quarter-finals:

Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) v Bernd Schneider (Ger)
Felipe Massa (Bra) v Jean Alesi (Fra)
Jeff Gordon v Sebastien Bourdais
Nelson Piquet Jr v Tom Kristensen
Marcus Gronholm (Fin) v Stephane Peterhansel (Fra)
Francois Duval (Bel) v Dani Sordo (Spa)
Colin McRae (GBR) v Armin Schwarz (Ger)
Sebastien Loeb (Fra) v Travis Pastrana (USA)

Semi-finals:

Kovalainen v Massa (Bra)
Gordon v Kristensen
Sordo v Gronholm
Loeb v McRae

Finals:

Kristensen v Kovalainen
Gronholm v Loeb

Super-final:

Loeb 2 v Kristensen 0