Mattias Ekstrom has defended the Race of Champions title after storming to victory in the annual end of season event at Wembley Stadium.

The Audi DTM star beat Formula 1 legend Michael Schumacher in the best of three final to become the first man to defend the title since Didier Auriol back in 1994.

The opening race of the first round saw Schumacher up against Henning Solberg in the Solution F Touring Car with the Race of Champions running to a straight knock-out format meaning no second chance. As it was, Schumacher didn't need a second chance as he had done in the Nations Cup as he won to knock rookie Solberg out. Next up came another cross-border fight with Jenson Button up against Alister McRae in the ROC Buggy. In a closely fought battle that saw both drivers pick up a yellow card for brushing the wall, Button prevailed to set up an all-F1 quarter-final.

The Solution F was back on track for the third heat, with two champions from American racing going head-to-head in the shape of Jimmie Johnson and Sebastien Bourdais. Johnson led at the half-way point against the Frenchman as the NASCAR man seemed more at home than he had earlier in the rally car but Bourdais fought back over the second lap to take victory and make it to the quarter-final. The fourth heat saw David Coulthard secure his place in the quarter-final in simple fashion after his opponent Petter Solberg spun his ROC Buggy on the opening lap and lost more than ten seconds as a result. It meant four F1 drivers had made it through in the top half of the draw.

Next up, the battle from the Nations Cup was relived with Heikki Kovalainen and Sebastian Vettel doing battle in the Solution F. At half-way, Kovalainen led by little more than two-tenths of a second but Vettel closed in as they came towards the finish. However, the Finn had enough of a lead to secure his passage to the quarter-final and prevent Vettel from doubling up.

The big race of the opening round was the sixth heat between World Touring Car Championship rivals Andy Priaulx and Yvan Muller. Priaulx led after lap one while Muller tagged the wall with his ROC Buggy and the Guernseyman extended his lead on lap two to take a comfortable win and become the first non-F1 racer in the quarter-final.

The penultimate race was the all-Scandanavian affair with Ekstrom – the defending champion – up against Tom Kristensen. Ekstrom led in the Solution F after the opening lap by a second and he secured his place in the quarter-final by just over a second as his Nations Cup team-mate fell at the first hurdle.

The final race of the opening round was Marcus Gronholm against Travis Pastrana, with Gronholm at the wheel of somethong other than his Ford Focus WRC for the first time. Pastrana made a slightly better start with his ROC Buggy than Gronholm and the American led at the end of the opening lap by just over a second. Despite the best efforts of Gronholm to close the gap, Pastrana extended his lead to secure a quarter-final with Ekstrom.

The England-Germany battle kicked off the quarter-finals with Schumacher up against Button in the ROC Buggies. Schumacher had beaten the Honda Racing man during the Nations Cup – albeit in the Solution F – and led by six tenths of a second at the end of the opening lap. Button couldn't close the gap and Germany beat England at Wembley once again as Schumacher moved into the semi-finals.