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The 1990 Race of Champions took place on December 8-9 in the Spanish city of Barcelona. It was the third running of the event, and the first year that the International Masters contest was run, allowing up-and-coming rally drivers a chance to mix it with the champions in the main event. Stig Blomqvist retained his title won the previous year, defeating Tommi Makinen in the final.

Participants

Driver	Reason for Qualification
Carlos Sainz	World Rally champion in 1990
Timo Salonen	World Rally champion in 1985
Stig Blomqvist	World Rally champion in 1984
Hannu Mikkola	World Rally champion in 1983
Ari Vatanen	World Rally champion in 1981
Björn Waldegård	World Rally champion in 1979
Markku Alén	FIA Cup for Drivers winner in 1978
Kenneth Eriksson	Winner in the International Masters
Alain Oreille	Finalist in the International Masters
François Chatriot	Semi-finalists in the International Masters
Dario Cerrato
Tommi Makinen	Replacement for the absent Walter Röhrl

International Masters

Preliminary stages

The 12 participants were split into three groups for the round robin first stage of the contest, with the best three from each progressing along with the driver with the fastest time among the losers. The drivers were split as follows:

• Group A - David Llewellin, Jesús Puras, Kenjiro Shinozuka, Marc Duez (Puras eliminated)
• Group B - Kenneth Eriksson, Alain Oreille, Dario Cerrato, Tommi Makinen (Oreille progresses with best losing time)
• Group C - Armin Schwarz, François Chatriot, Josep Maria Bardolet, Josep Bassas (Schwarz eliminated)

Shinozuka, Llewellin, Bardolet and Bassas were then eliminated in the knockout second round.

Quarter-finals

Winner		Loser
Dario Cerrato		Alain Oreille
Kenneth Eriksson		Tommi Makinen
François Chatriot		Marc Duez

• Oreille progressed with the best losing time.

	Semi-finals				Final
	François Chatriot	0
	Alain Oreille	1
					Alain Oreille	1
					Kenneth Eriksson	2
	Kenneth Eriksson	1
	Dario Cerrato	0

Race of Champions

The main event followed the same format as the International Masters. The drivers were split into groups as follows:

• Group A - Hannu Mikkola, Ari Vatanen, Kenneth Eriksson, François Chatriot (Vatanen eliminated)
• Group B - Timo Salonen, Stig Blomqvist, Markku Alén, Dario Cerrato (Alén eliminated)
• Group C - Carlos Sainz, Björn Waldegård, Alain Oreille, Tommi Makinen (Sainz progresses with best losing time)

Second round

Winner		Loser
Tommi Makinen		François Chatriot
Dario Cerrato		Alain Oreille
Kenneth Eriksson		Carlos Sainz
Stig Blomqvist		Björn Waldegård
Timo Salonen		Hannu Mikkola

• Sainz progressed with the best losing time.

Quarter-finals

Winner		Loser
Dario Cerrato		Tommi Makinen
Stig Blomqvist		Kenneth Eriksson
Carlos Sainz		Timo Salonen

• Makinen progressed with the best losing time.

	Semi-finals				Final
	Stig Blomqvist	2
	Carlos Sainz	1
					Stig Blomqvist	2
					Tommi Makinen	1
	Tommi Makinen	2
	Dario Cerrato	1

References

• Information sourced from AUTOSPORT 13/12/90