General
Race of Champions 2023: Everything you need to know
- GPblog.com
Race of Champions and some of the world's best racing drivers from all different racing classes, including Formula 1, WRC and WEC, are back in Piteå. There are unqiue categories in motorsport and that's why we have the Race of Champions. The race brings together stars from all different types of motorsport classes and puts them in the same equipment, on the same track, to figure out who really is the world's best driver. The Race of Champions is split into two divisions, the regular Race of Champions and then the ROC Nations Cup.
The race brings together stars from all different types of motorsport classes and puts them in the same equipment, on the same track, to figure out who really is the world's best driver. The Race of Champions is split into two divisions, the regular Race of Champions and then the ROC Nations Cup.
The Race of Champions is a knockout competition that starts with a group game where the drivers have to face everyone in their respective groups. The most successful from each group move on to the quarter-finals where it's one-on-one, straight knockout competition until you reach the final where the finalists compete in a best of three to decide the winner.
Then in the ROC Nations Cup, the competition aims to name the fastest country in the world, you could think of it as the World Cup of Motorsport. Drivers pair up with their compatriots in pairs where each driver has one race against each opponent. If the score is 1-1 after everyone has raced, the winning drivers face each other in another race to decide the winner.
So who are the drivers taking part this year?
Drivers in the Race of Champions 2023
Sebestian Vettel (Germany) - 4x Formula 1 World Champion and 1x ROC winner
Sebastian Loeb (France) - 9x WRC World Champion and 4x ROC winner
Travis Pastrana (USA) - NRX Nitro Rallycross winner, 6x American Rally Champion and 11x X-Games gold medallist
Mick Schumacher (Germany) - Former Formula 1 driver, 2020 FIA F2 winner and 2018 FIA F3 European winner
Valtteri Bottas (Finland) - 10x Formula 1 race winner
Jamie Chadwick (Great Britain) - 3x W Series World Champion
Thierry Neuville (Belgium) - 5x silver in WRC World Championship and 17x WRC rally winner
Johan Kristoffersson (Sweden) - 5x World Rallycross champion and Extreme E champion
David Coulthard (Great Britain) - 13x Formula 1 race winner and 2x ROC winner
Oliver Solberg (Sweden) - 2020 FIA ERC1 Junior European Champion
Tanner Foust (USA) - McLaren Extreme E driver and 3x US Rallycross champion
Felipe Drugovich (Brazil) - 2022 Formula 2 World Champion
Mika Häkkinen (Finland) - 2x Formula 1 World Champion
Tom Kristensen (Denmark) - 9x LeMans 24 Hours winner
Adrien Tambay (France) - 2022 FIA ETCR World Champion
Petter Solberg (Norway) - 2x Worlds Rallycross winner and WRC World Champion
Mattias Ekström (Sweden) - 2x DTM World Champion and 3x ROC winner
Felix Rosenqvist (Sweden) - IndyCar race winner and 2x Macau Grand Prix winner and 3x Formula e Grand Prix winner
Looking back at the Race of Champions 2022
Race of Champions 2022 was the first time the event took place in Scandinavia, at Pite Havsbad in northern Sweden. The track was built on the frozen Baltic Sea and was a snow/ice track. The winner was Frenchman Sebastian Loeb, taking his fourth ROC win. He defeated Sweden's Mattias Ekström in the semi-final and none other than Sebastian Vettel in the final. In the ROC Nations Cup there was a Swedish/Norwegian win from the Solberg family, Petter and Oliver. They prevailed over the American duo of Colton Herta and Jimmie Johnson.
How to watch the Race of Champions 2023
Sky Sports F1 will broadcast the event in the United Kingdom. Elsewhere, you can click here to find out how to watch in your own country.
Times and dates
The Nations Cup will be broadcast on Saturday 28th January from 11am onwards.
The Race of Champions will be broadcast on Sunday 29th January from 11am onwards.