The Finn won the Nissan World Series title last season and is already a Formula One tester for Renault but is still around two seasons away from the top of his sport.

He put his name in lights last night in the Stade de France by beating world champions Schumacher and Sebastien Loeb, an experience he thoroughly enjoyed.

Kovalainen, who celebrated his win over Schumacher by leaping on to the roof of his Ferrari, said: “It was really a fantastic night for me. It’s not every day you get a chance to beat Michael. That was a big moment.

“Over the race you do not get the right picture of the strength of the drivers. It’s a new car for everybody, although I don’t know how much sneaky testing Michael has done.

“It’s all about trying to adapt to the situation and trying to push very close to the limit and Michael wasn’t successful at that. For me it was a fantastic moment.

“I had already beaten Jean Alesi which was quite close and I was really happy after that.

“With Michael I thought I would try to go a bit quicker, try to attack a little bit more and to beat him was fantastic.”

After conquering a whole host of motorsport’s finest earlier in the evening, Kovalainen proved it was no fluke by teaming up with Marcus Gronholm to reach the Nations Cup final for Finland.

But he fell just short when the best-of-five final went to the last race and the French pair of Loeb and Alesi narrowly took the win in unfortunate circumstances.

With all previous rounds decided on a best-of-three basis, the final was extended to five races with the French losing 2-1.

Alesi took the victory when Kovalainen’s car ran out of batteries at the start of the decider.

Kovalainen diplomatically commented: “Perhaps it was best they won with it being in Paris.”

Loeb was impressed with the spectacle and tipped the Race of Champions to be a hit for some years to come.

After over 50,000 fans cheered him to Nations Cup success, he said: “I think it’s very nice to have a race like this in Paris, in the Stade de France which is a great stadium with a lot of people in.

“It was incredible to see a lot of supporters who perhaps cannot go to rallies or grands prix. For me it was a success and I hope it will continue next year.”

Britain’s hopes of glory in the charity event did not last long. In the individual event, David Coulthard and Colin McRae went out in the first round, at the hands of Kovalainen and Mattias Ekstrom respectively.

The pair improved for the Nations Cup, beating the United States to reach the semi-finals before the Finnish pair of Kovalainen and Gronholm ended their night.