The Race of Champions (ROC) is an international motorsport event held at the end/start of each year, featuring some of the world's best racing and rally drivers. It is the only competition in the world where stars from Formula One, World Rally Championship, IndyCar, NASCAR, sportscars and touring cars compete against each other, going head-to-head in identical cars.
The race was first organised in 1988 by former rally driver Michèle Mouton and Fredrik Johnsson, IMP (International Media Productions) President. Originally the event was a competition between the world's best rally drivers but has since expanded to include top competitors from most of the world's premier motorsport disciplines, including motorcycle racing.
The top individual overall in The Race Of Champions is given the title "Champion of Champions", and receives the Henri Toivonen Memorial trophy. The ROC Nations' Cup was added in 1999 and now features teams of two drivers who compete for their country.
In the Race of Champions, the individual drivers compete head-to-head in one race around the track. The drivers are gradually eliminated using a round-robin format, with the best eight entering a knockout tournament. Prior to the Race of Champions, eight teams of two drivers compete in the ROC Nations' Cup using a similar format.
In both the ROC Nations' Cup and the Race of Champions, the final consists of three runs, with the team or driver that achieves two victories first crowned champion.
Cars
The cars used in The Race Of Champions vary from year to year. Prior to each run, a type of car is assigned to both of the drivers, with each machine being identical in every respect. Over the course of the event, each driver will get to drive several different cars.
The following years saw new events in addition to the main race. The International Rally Masters, started in 1990, was designed to offer the season's best drivers, who were yet to win a championship title, the chance to win a spot in the main Race of Champions. The Classic Rally Masters, first contested in 1994, was a "historic" Race of Champions competed with pre-1965 Porsche 911s. These two events have since been discontinued.
The event found a permanent home for the next 12 years at the Ciudad Deportiva Islas Canarias venue on Gran Canaria starting from 1992. It was during this period that the emphasis on rally champions faded. The Nations' Cup was introduced in 1999, bringing in circuit racing drivers and motorcyclists to the event for the first time, with 2001 marking the first time that non-rally drivers were eligible to compete for the main title.
2003 was the last time the event would be held on Gran Canaria, the event switching to stadium-based tracks from 2004. The change from gravel to tarmac circuits saw rally drivers lose their dominance, and by 2007 only a handful of rally drivers were present, with the majority made up of circuit racing drivers from F1, touring cars and sportscars.
Saint-Denis (2004–2006)
2004 surprise winner Heikki Kovalainen driving a Solution F Prototype at the 2007 event.
The 2004 Race of Champions took place on December 6 at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis. The individual event was won by Heikki Kovalainen, the first non-rally driver to win the crown, and the Nations' Cup by Jean Alesi and Sébastien Loeb representing France. There was also a special "World Champions Challenge" race held between 2004 Formula One world champion Michael Schumacher and 2004 World Rally champion Sébastien Loeb, which Schumacher won.
2006 winner Mattias Ekström demonstrating his DTM car at the 2007 event.
The 2006 event took place on December 16. The Nations' Cup was competed first and the event was won by Finland, with Heikki Kovalainen beating United States' Travis Pastrana on the final round. Kovalainen's teammate was the two-time World Rally Champion Marcus Grönholm, whereas Pastrana drove all the rounds for the US team, after both Jimmie Johnson and his replacement, Scott Speed, had to withdraw from competing due to injuries.
The individual event and the Henri Toivonen Memorial Trophy was won by Mattias Ekström of Sweden. He beat Kovalainen by 0.0002 seconds in the semi-finals, and then defending champion, Sébastien Loeb of France, in the finals.
The 16 competitors line up before the start of the event.
The 2007 Race of Champions took place on December 16 at Wembley Stadium in London, England. The Nations' Cup took place at the start of the afternoon and was won by Germany over Finland. The individual event followed and the Henri Toivonen Memorial Trophy was won by Mattias Ekström of Sweden, beating Michael Schumacher of Germany in the final.
The 2008 event took place on December 14. Germany retained their Nations' Cup title by beating the Scandinavian team in the final, while Sébastien Loeb overcame the recently retired F1 stalwart David Coulthard to win the individuals' event.
The 2009 Race of Champions took place in Beijing's National Stadium on November 3–4. For the first time, regional finals were held to help determine the competitors for the Nations' Cup, with Monaco earning the right to compete in the main event after beating teams from Italy, Spain and Portugal at an event held in Porto on June 6–7.
Germany beat Great Britain to win the Nations' Cup for the third successive time, with Mattias Ekström beating Michael Schumacher to claim the individual title in a re-run of the 2007 final.
The 2010 Race of Champions took place in Düsseldorf's Esprit Arena on November 27–28.[3] Germany retained their Nations' Cup crown in front of their home crowd, once again beating Great Britain, while Portugal's Filipe Albuquerque was a surprise winner of the individual event after beating newly crowned F1 champion Sebastian Vettel in the semi-final and Sébastien Loeb in the final.
Germany secured their fifth successive Nations' Cup title, beating the Nordic team in the final, while up-and-coming rally star Sébastien Ogier beat Le Mans legend Tom Kristensen in the final to clinch the individual crown.
The 2012 Race of Champions took place on December 14–16 at the Rajamangala Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand.[7] The individual Race Of Champions was won by Lotus F1 driver Romain Grosjean, who beat Tom Kristensen in the final. The Nations' Cup was won for the sixth consecutive time by Germany after overcoming France in the final.
The 2012 edition was the first to include a ROC Asia competition, with teams from host nation Thailand, India, China and Japan battling for two spots in the ROC Nations Cup and individual seats in the actual Race Of Champions.
The 2013 event was due to take place on the December 14–15 at the Rajamangala Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand, but was canceled due to political unrest in Bangkok.[8]
The 2014 Race of Champions was held in Barbados at the Bushy Park circuit on December 13–14.[9] This was the first time that the event was held in North America. The individual Race Of Champions was won by 13 times F1 race winner David Coulthard, who beat Mercedes F1 test driver and youngest ever DTM race winner Pascal Wehrlein in the final. The Nations' Cup was won by Team Nordic's Tom Kristensen and Petter Solberg overcoming Team Great Britain's David Coulthard and Susie Wolff in the final.
The 2014 included a ROC Caribbean competition, with teams from host nation Barbados, Jamaica, Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago battling for two spots in the ROC Nations Cup and individual seats in the actual Race Of Champions.
In 2015 Race of Champions returned to London and was staged at London Stadium in Stratford. The ROC Nations Cup was held on Friday 20 November and the Race of Champions on Saturday 21 November.
The 2017 Race of Champions was held at Marlins Park in Miami, Florida, on January 21–22. This was the Second time that the event was held in North America. Fifteen drivers from six nations competed at the 2017 ROC. Drivers included 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Champion Kyle Busch, and former Indy 500 Champion Juan Pablo Montoya, who each participated in their first ROC.[10]
Juan Pablo Montoya was crowned the Champion of Champions after defeating Tom Kristensen, while Sebastian Vettel won the Nations Cup for Team Germany after teammate Pascal Wehrlein did not compete in the Nations Cup after suffering an accident during the Champion of Champions event the day prior. Team USA drivers Kurt Busch and Kyle Busch were the runners up for the Nations Cup.
The 2019 Race of Champions was held at the Foro Sol in Mexico City, becoming the third Race of Champions to be held in North America.
Virtual (2020)
The 2020 race of champions was held virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic at recreations of the Gran Canaria track and the Riyadh and London stadium tracks that were all recreated in Assetto Corsa.[12]
The 2022 Race of Champions was held at Pite Havsbad in Piteå, northern Sweden.[13] It was the first time the event had been held on a snow and ice track.
Sébastien Loeb is a French professional rally, racing and rallycross driver. He is the most successful driver in the World Rally Championship (WRC), having won the world championship a record nine times in a row. He holds several other WRC records, including most event wins, most podium finishes and most stage wins. Loeb retired from full time WRC participation at the end of 2012. He currently drives part time in the WRC for M-Sport Ford World Rally Team, and full time in the World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC) for Bahrain Raid Xtreme.
Heikki Johannes Kovalainen is a Finnish racing driver competing in the Japan Rally Championship for Rally Team AICELLO. He raced in Formula One between 2007 and 2013 for the Renault, McLaren, Team Lotus, Caterham and Lotus F1 teams, scoring a single victory at the 2008 Hungarian Grand Prix. After leaving Formula One, he raced in the Japanese Super GT series between 2015 and 2021, where he won the championship in 2016.
Mattias Ekström is a racing and rally driver from Sweden. He competed in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters for Audi from 2001 until his retirement in 2018, and has been competing in the FIA World Rallycross Championship, also for Audi, since its inception in 2014. He is a FIA World Rallycross Champion, a two-time DTM champion and a four-time winner of the Race of Champions.
Harri "Rovis" Rovanperä is a Finnish rally driver who competed in the World Rally Championship from 1993 to 2006. He drove for SEAT (1997–00), Peugeot (2001–04), Mitsubishi (2005) and Red Bull Škoda Team (2006). Rovanperä was known as a loose surface specialist. He is the father of 2022 and 2023 World Rally driver's championship winner Kalle Rovanperä. He was married to Tiina Rovanperä.
The 2005 Race of Champions took place on December 3 again at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis.
The 2006 Race of Champions took place on 16 December at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis.
The 2007 Race of Champions took place on December 16 at the Wembley Stadium. Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel of the German team beat Finland to the Nation's Cup, however Mattias Ekström of Sweden and the Scandinavian team won the Driver's Cup after beating Schumacher in the three-heat final.
The Citroën Total World Rally Team was the Citroën factory backed entry into the World Rally Championship (WRC), run by Citroën Racing.
The 2004 Race of Champions took place on December 4 at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis. Unlike previous events at a gravel course in Gran Canaria, the new Stade de France event was all-tarmac, so road racers became more competitive than rally drivers.
The 2003 Race of Champions took place on November 28–30 at Gran Canaria for the final time. It was also the last year for three-car teams in the Nations' Cup, with the focus on rally drivers fading after this year's event due to the later stadium-based venues using all-tarmac tracks.
The 2000 Race of Champions took place on December 10 at Gran Canaria. It was the 13th running of the event, and the ninth running at Gran Canaria. The International Masters contest was held for the final time this year before a format shake-up for 2001, which opened up the main competition to non-rally drivers.
The 1999 Race of Champions took place on December 5 at Gran Canaria. It was the 12th running of the event, and the eighth running at Gran Canaria. It was the first year for the new Nations' Cup Competition, which saw teams of three competitors – a rally driver, a circuit racing driver and a motorcyclist – team up to represent their nation and compete for national glory.
The 2010 Race of Champions was the 23rd running of the event, and took place over 27–28 November 2010 at the Esprit Arena in Düsseldorf, Germany. It was the first time the event had been held in Germany since 1989, when it was held at the Nürburgring.
The 2011 Race of Champions was the 24th running of the event, and took place over 3–4 December 2011 at the Esprit Arena in Düsseldorf, Germany. The Commerzbank-Arena in Frankfurt had been scheduled to hold the event, but after Eintracht Frankfurt's relegation to German football's Second Division, the stadium could no longer host the event on those dates. It was the second consecutive time, and third time overall, that the event has been held in Germany, after the 2010 event was also held in Düsseldorf. Sebastien Ogier overcame Tom Kristensen in the final to become Champion of Champions, whilst Team Germany took their fifth consecutive Nations Cup victory courtesy of Sebastian Vettel and Michael Schumacher. Heinz-Harald Frentzen also won the ROC Legends Trophy after beating Hans-Joachim Stuck, Marc Duez and Stig Blomqvist.
The 2012 Race of Champions was the 25th running of the event, and took place over 14–16 December 2012 at the Rajamangala Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand. During the first day, a ROC Thailand contest was held with four local drivers to decide the identity of the Thai representatives. The top two drivers advanced to the ROC Asia contest, where they faced teams from India, China and Japan. The Thai team was guaranteed a place in the main Nations Cup, whilst the second spot was taken by the victorious Indian team formed by F1 driver Narain Karthikeyan and WEC driver Karun Chandhok. During the second day, Germany took their sixth consecutive Nations Cup victory courtesy of Sebastian Vettel and Michael Schumacher, beating France in the final 2–0. During the final day, Romain Grosjean won the Race of Champions, beating Tom Kristensen 2–0 in a closely fought final. In the UK, the live broadcasts of the latter two days of the event on Motors TV attracted a peak of 44,000 television viewers, a respectable figure for a satellite-only channel.
The 2013 Race of Champions was due to be the 26th running of the Race of Champions, and was due to take place over 14–15 December 2013 at the Rajamangala Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand. However the event was cancelled on 2 December due to political unrest in Bangkok due to the 2013–2014 Thai political crisis.
The 2015 Race of Champions was a motorsports event that took place over 20–21 November 2015 at the Olympic Stadium in London.
The 2017 Race of Champions was the 28th running of the event, and took place over 21–22 January 2017 at Marlins Park baseball stadium in Miami. Juan Pablo Montoya took the Championship and became the champion for the first time. Sebastian Vettel, after teammate Pascal Wehrlein was sidelined after a crash, single-handedly won the Nations' Cup for Germany.
The 2019 Race of Champions was the 30th running of the Race of Champions, and took place on 19–20 January 2019 at Foro Sol inside the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico. The competition saw local rally driver, Benito Guerra Jr. take the top spot in the individual category beating Loïc Duval in the final.
The 2022 Race of Champions was the 31st running of the Race of Champions. It took place on 5–6 February 2022 at Pite Havsbad in Piteå, Sweden, 60 miles south of the Arctic Circle.
References
↑ "The concept". Race of Champions. Retrieved 28 February 2011.
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