On March 7 and 8, 2025 a who’s who of the world’s best racing drivers will descend on Sydney for the annual running of the Race of Champions. The likes of Sebastian Loeb, Sebastian Vettel, Travis Pastrana, Mick Schumacher and Australia’s own Jamie Whincup and Molly Taylor will compete head-to-head inside Accor Stadium.
And Fredrik Johnsson is the man we have to thank for this world-class motorsport festival arriving in Australia. The Swede created Race of Champions with former rally ace Michele Mouton in 1988 and since then it has become one of the sport’s greatest events.
It has toured the world, from the Canary Islands to some of the world’s most famous stadiums and even the frozen tundra of Sweden.
VIDEO: Molly Taylor locked in for Race of Champions
Across that time Johnsson has had to not only recruit the stars but also their cars. The Race of Champions has features from truly special vehicles, from the Audi Quattro S1, BMW M3 and Lancia Delta Integrale of the first edition to the all-electric FIA RX2e rallycross car in the 2022 edition in Sweden. In between there have been WRC cars, NASCARs, Lamborghinis, KTMs and countless more.
Which makes Johnsson a fascinating subject for our Dream Garage this month.
Daily driver: Hyundai Ioniq 5 N
He may have been around dozens of fantastic petrol-powered cars over the years, but his preference for his daily commuting would be a modern electric car.
“I’d go with one of the new electric cars that are actually fantastic,” Johnsson says. “If that’s a Tesla or if it’s the new Hyundai, I don’t know, but they’re all great to drive. It’s got a lot of torque and everything else.”
Something special: Abarth 695
As a resident of the narrow streets of Monte Carlo, Johnsson opts for something small in size but big on fun for his weekend special.
“I’ll take my Abarth around Monaco, it’s perfect with the big shift, it’s just brilliant to drive and easy to park,” he tells Torquecafe.
His one even has some Race of Champions mileage.
“It’s the original Abarth that we had, we had them at Race of Champions in Wembley Stadium, and I kept one of the cars afterwards and I love driving it in Monaco.”
Track toy: Audi Quattro S1
Anytime you ask someone with any sort of rally background about cars you’re almost always bound to end up with the Audi Quattro S1 being named. The fire-breathing, all-wheel drive Group B machine is a car that few can match for its performance and sheer spectacle.
So it’s no wonder Johnsson names it as his ultimate ‘fun’ car, although he does have a second option that sounds like it would be a blast too.
“I used to have the Audi S1 Group B car, but it was a little bit too expensive and risky for me to drive it,” he says. “I drove it a couple of times after Race of Champions, but I was very, very scared to damage it.
“So I would probably go with the Porsche. One of the best experiences you can have is doing the Porsche ice driving experience up by the Arctic Circle in Sweden, like we did for Race of Champions in Sweden. “Like, a phenomenal experience if you want to have fun. Great cars, great driving on snow and ice, so that would be my number one pick.”
Favorite Race of Champions car: FC1-X Group E
While Dream Garage follows the same ‘three car format’ each month, we couldn’t let Johnsson go without asking him a bonus question. Across his nearly 40 years of running Race of Champions, across dirt, snow and tarmac – what is his favourite car? It’s a nearly impossible question to answer, given the diversity of machinery, but Johnsson opts for the FC1-X ‘Group E’ rallycross machine.
This all-electric beast makes 1000hp, launches 0-100km/h in a mind-bending 1.5 seconds and can jump and slide its way across any surface.
“I mean, the Audi S1 Group B car, once again, I mean, the sound of that, the acceleration, the way it flies over the jump, that was really special,” he says. “And I must say, going more recently now, the new electric cars prepared by my friend Andreas [Erkisson, of Olsbergs MSE] from Sweden, when you see them flying over the crest and stuff like that, the handling, you’ve got even, like, Sebastian Loeb, a nine-time world rally champion, and Thierry Neuville, going like this ‘Wow, that made me sweat, right? That was hard work, yeah? But what, how much fun was that?’”
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