The Scandinavian team of seven-time Le Mans winner Tom Christensen (Denmark) and former DTM champion Mattias Ekstrom (Sweden) went unbeaten all the way to the title in the Race of Champions Nations Cup competition, edging the Playstation/France entry of double Champ Car titlist Sebastien Bourdais and multiple Dakar winner Stephane Peterhansel in the final. Jeff Gordon made it to the semi-finals round in both the Nation’s Cup team event and the individual Race of Champions in Paris on December 3. In the Nation’s Cup event with Gordon and Travis Pastrana representing the United States, Gordon won both heats against Nelson Piquet Jr of Brazil to give the U.S. a 2-1 victory in the best-of-three. However, in the next round, Gordon was bested by Tom Kristensen of Scandinavia by a tenth of a second, and Pastrana was defeated by Ekstrom. The Scandinavian team went on to capture the Nation’s Cup. Gordon represented the U.S. in 2002 when the event was held in Gran Canaria off the coast of Africa. Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, and Colin Edwards captured the Nation’s Cup team event.(Speed Channel and Gordonline.com)(12-4-2005)
