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Race of Champions Report. WRC driver Sebastien Ogier clinched the Race of Champions title at the Esprit Arena in Dusseldorf, with the rallying star defeating sportscar legend Tom Kristensen in the final after Formula One's stars slowly wilted away.  

Ogier became the first rally driver to win the end-of-season 'champion of champions' title since fellw Frenchman Sebastien Loeb took the crown in 2008 at Wembley, and he came through to take victory despite dropping a heat in the group stages.

The final was ultimately comfortable for the WRC star, beating Kristensen in both of the first two heats to negate the need for a final decider in the Skoda rally cars, and scoop the top prize in his first appearance at the Race of Champions.

Kristensen tried his hardest, but despite having seen off F1 stars Jenson Button and Michael Schumacher in the knockout rounds prior to the final, he had no answer to Ogier in the final.

Once again, it was a disappointing end to the season for F1's stars, with only the veteran form of Michael Schumacher getting to the semi-finals, before he lost out to Kristensen in an insanely close drive for the line in the shootout for a place in the final.

Schumacher had got to the semi-finals by knocking out his countryman Sebastian Vettel in the quarter final stage, Vettel being paired against his Nations Cup colleague after losing to Kristensen in the group stages and only finishing second in the standings.

The other F1 stars to make it to the knock-outs also succumbed at the quarter final stage, with Kristensen beating Button and former F1 driver David Coulthard losing to 2011 DTM champion Martin Tomczyk, who went on to lose to Ogier in the semi finals.

Romain Grosjean and Vitaly Petrov failed to make it out of the group stages, with Grosjean's elimination being a particularly cruel way for his challenge to end. 

After beating both Kristensen and Petrov, he was top of the group with one heat to go, but Kristensen's win over Vettel eliminated the Frenchman, with the trio of drivers tied on two wins apiece, but Grosjean possessing the slowest best heat time.

Schumacher and British driver Andy Priaulx were the only men to come through the group stages unbeaten, but Priaulx's event in a quarter final defeat to Ogier.

Elsewhere in the groups, defending RoC champion Filip Alberquerque failed to register a single heat win, his chances of retaining his crown ruined in the first heat of the day when his Audi R8 broke down midway through his run.

There was also an early elimination for former three-time RoC winner Mattias Ekstrom, who lost out to fellow DTM driver Tomczyk in a sudden-death heat.

But despite Tomczyk being one of three Germans to make the quarter finals, the Dusseldorf crowd failed to see a home winner in the main event, to go with Vettel and Schumacher's Nations Cup win on Saturday, and it was Ogier who ended the 2011 season on a high.