Sixteen of the best road/oval racing and rally drivers from across the
world will be heading to Wembley Stadium in the United Kingdom. They
come for an end-of-season gladiatorial style motorsport event on the
16th of December 2007.
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Overall view inside the Wembley Stadium. Photo by IMP.
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This exciting event, where drivers will race in identical track
conditions against each other with a selection of five cars, is expected
to draw 80,000 spectators. The parallel tarmac track will be specially
constructed in Wembley stadium for the Race of Champions (ROC); it will
be the first motorsport event at the new venue.
Now in its 20th year, ROC drivers will gather again to compete in a
straight shootout to win the Champion of Champions title as well as the
Nations' Cup, a team event.
The event historically favors drivers from the world of rallying, having
taken seventeen out of the nineteen Champion of Champions titles.
Previous victors include Didier Auriol, who won the event four times.
Sebastien Loeb, Juha Kankkunen and Stig Blomqvist are all credited with
taking ROC titles twice. Other rally aces to win are Andrea Aghini,
Francois Delecour, Carlos Sainz, Colin McRae, Tommi Makinen, Harri
Rovanpera and Marcus Gronholm.
The rally drivers' success in the event has only broken twice, with
a win in 2004 by open-wheel racer Heikki Kovalainen and last year's
winner Mattias Ekstrom. However, German Touring Car (DTM) racer Ekstrom
has a rallying background, being the Swedish Rally Group N Winner in a
Mitsubishi Lancer Evo in 2004. He also recorded 8 starts in the World
Rally Championship (WRC) with a 10th place in the 2005 Swedish Rally in
a Skoda Fabia WRC entry.
The drivers competing in the event this year include seven-time Formula
One (F1) World Champion Michael Schumacher partnering up with Toro
Rosso's F1 driver Sebastian Vettel for team Germany.
Schumacher was a race of Champions finalist in the 2004 event in
Paris. He beat World Rally champion and two-time Champion of Champions
Sebastien Loeb in the semi-final but missed out in the final to
Kovalainen.
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Jenson Button, Marcus Gronholm and Andy Priaulx. Photo by IMP.
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Team Autosport England will comprise of Honda Racing F1 driver Jenson
Button paired with World Touring Car champion Andy Priaulx. Priaulx
recently took his third World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) title in a
row driving for BMW Team UK.
Team F1 Racing Scotland will be represented by Red Bull Racing F1 driver
David Coulthard who will compete with former British Rally champion
Alistair McRae. Alistair will now be driving at the race after the
tragic loss of his brother Colin. The late Colin McRae, a crowd favorite
in the ROC competition, was a previous Champion of Champions title
winner in 1998.
Team USA pairs 2006 NASCAR Nextel Cup champion Jimmie Johnson (Hendrick
Motorsports Chevrolet) with the Subaru/Vermont SportsCar driver and
2006 Rally America champion Travis Pastrana. Both American drivers are
previous entrants in the ROC, Johnson is a former off-road racer and
aided in achieving the Nations' Cup win in 2002 for the American team.
Team France is comprised of four-time Champ Car World Series champion
Sebastien Bourdais (Newman/Haas Racing) and SEAT Sport WTCC driver Yvan
Muller, who won the British Touring Car Championship in 2003. Bourdais
first entered the event in 2004 and Muller was the 2000 winner of the
Nations' Cup for the French team.
DTM winner and 24 Hours of Le Mans master Tom Kristensen of Denmark
joins last year's ROC champion Ekstrom. The Swedish racer along
with Kristensen make up a very strong pairing for Team Scandinavia.
Kristensen was a 2005 Nations' Cup winner and Champion of Champions
finalist.
Team Finland's Kovalainen, the 2004 World Series by Nissan champion and
current Renault F1 driver has always done well at this event. He wowed
the crowds in 2004 becoming Champion of Champions as well as being a
finalist in the Nations' Cup at the same event.
Last year, the Finn scored another success along side teammate Gronholm
winning the Nations' Cup. Two-time WRC champion and BP-Ford team driver
Gronholm, driving again for Team Finland, is another driver with a
history of very strong performances in this event. He was a finalist in
his first in 2000 and the earned the Champion of Champions in 2002.
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Ford Focus WRC. Photo by IMP.
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Whilst the ROC would normally pair one rally and one race driver
together, the late entry of Team Norway has rally star brothers Henning
and Petter Solberg driving. Henning, a Five-time Norwegian Rally
Champion and current WRC Stobart M-Sport driver will drive with younger
brother Petter, the 2003 WRC Champion for Subaru World Rally team. This
pair has rallying in the blood; their parents were both keen rally-cross
drivers. Petter started his rallying career on the fields of his parents
farm aged just eight. The highly competitive pair was separated by just
thirteen points in the WRC 2008 standings, with Petter finishing the
season in fifth and Henning sixth overall.
All the competitors will do battle in a selection of different cars as
described below:
* The familiar ROC car, a 475kg light weight, rear wheel drive racer
with 170 bhp will be raced again at the event.
* New this year, the gorgeous Aston Martin V8 Vantage n24 will make an
exciting addition to the line up with its 4300cc, 32 valve V8 engine
producing 410 bhp through the rear wheels.
* The first rally car entrant comes courtesy of the Ford Focus RS WRC07.
The 300 bhp 4 wheel drive car will be familiar office for Ford rally
drivers Gronholm and Henning Solberg.
* A second rally car, the FIAT Grande Punto S2000 Abarth will also be
included. This car races in the European FIA Rally Championship, the
International Rally Challenge and the Italian Rally Championship amongst
others.
* Completing the selection is the Solution F prototype touring car.
This car has been racing in France and Belgium for the last 2 years and
recorded a good result in the Dubai 24 Hours race.
The scene is set for a very exciting competition. With the format
providing as level a playing field as possible any one of the drivers
could take the Champion of Champions title. The Nations' Cup team event
will also provide a fascinating battle.
