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Race of Champions Michelin at the Bird's Nest Stadium Michelin was a partner of the 2009 Race of Champions which took place at the famous Bird's Nest Stadium, host of last year's Olympic Games in Beijing. The entry list featured the world's leading drivers who competed head-to-head in a variety of vehicles, all equipped with Michelin tyres. The ROC Nations Cup and the Race of Champions were respectively won by Germany (Vettel/Schumacher) and Sweden's Mattias Ekström.
After being held successively at the Stade de France in Paris and at London's Wembley Stadium in recent years, the Race of Champions organisers chose Beijing's Bird's Nest Stadium to host this year's competition. Michelin and its subsidiary Michelin China were partners of the event which once again attracted a glittering line-up of drivers comprising the planet's top motor sport stars who battled for the individual Race of Champions title and for the Nations Cup, designed to establish the world's fastest country (teams of two drivers). The list included the likes of Michael Schumacher, Jenson Button, Sebastian Vettel, Tom Kristensen, Mikko Hirvonen, Marcus Grönholm, Mick Doohan, etc, etc, who competed one-to-one round parallel 'figure of eight' circuits in a number of different cars, ranging from the Ford Focus WRC to buggies and prototypes. Michelin tyres equipped all these cars, despite their differences, and the latter were pushed to the limit round the specially-laid asphalt track which was purposely made slippery to ensure an exciting show for the spectators. The Nations Cup was won by Germany (represented by F1 stars Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel) for the third consecutive year after defeating Great Britain's Jenson Button and Andy Priaulx in the final. The individual Race of Champions was won by Sweden's Mattias Ekström. The DTM ace clinched the laurels for the third time by beating Michael Schumacher in the last round.
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