The draw for this weekend's Race Of Champions has taken place and pits some of the greatest drivers in motorsport history against each other on the frozen ice at Pite Havsbad. The starting field was also completed today when record holder and four-time ROC champion Didier Auriol confirms participation. Auriol competes both in the individual competition and in the Nations Cup where he represents Team France together with Loeb.
The entire driver lineup was thus complete today when the 1994 world rally champion Didier Auriol, who has won the ROC Champion of Champions title four times, was confirmed to participate. Auriol will also represent Team France in the ROC Nations Cup together with Loeb, where they will meet Team Nordic's Johan Kristoffersson and "Mr Le Mans" Tom Kristensen.
- I have always enjoyed competing in the Race Of Champions. It will be very fun to represent France with Sébastien. I drove Rally Del Ticino with a DS3 WRC car in September last year, but I do not compete that often, so I hope I do not become an obstacle for him in the ROC Nations Cup, says Auriol and continues.
- When it comes to the individual Race Of Champions, I hold the record as I have won it four times, but if Sébastien takes his fourth win this year, we will have to share the ROC record.
Didier Auriol will also participate as an ambassador for the French brand GCK Exclusive, and he will test the new Lancia Delta Evo-e R during a special vintage setup both days.
– Denna moderniserade Lancia är perfekt att köra på årets ROC. Bilen dominerade rallyt när vi lanserade Race Of Champions för 30 år sedan, och nu uppdateras både bilen och loppet på nytt för att främja den viktiga frågan om hållbarhet inom motorsport, säger Fredrik Johnsson, president Race Of Champions.
Result of the draw
The draw for the individual Race Of Champions, conducted by Tobias Lindfors, Group Vice President and owner of Pite Havsbad Group, and Kristoffer Lundström, CEO of Pite Havsbad Group, divides the driver lineup into two parts. On one part are the international racing drivers and on the other are the rally drivers and those with more experience of off-road driving. The winners of each part of the draw will meet in the grand final.
The draw resulted in that Team Sweden's Timmy Hansen and Mattias Ekström is set against Team Norway's Petter and Oliver Solberg.
- We have drawn exciting duels, including the meeting between Formula 1 drivers Valtteri Bottas and Sebastian Vettel already in the quarterfinals and the meeting between Sweden and Norway in the ROC Nations Cup. It will be very exciting to see the drivers compete and we will experience unique world-class races, says Tobias Lindfors, Group CEO and owner of Pite Havsbad Group.
As the track conditions on snow and ice can change quickly depending on the weather, ROC's traditional group games will not take place as it often requires a count of fastest laps. Instead, this year's world final will use a knockout system.
To make it as fair as possible, the races in round 1 and the round of 16 are decided by the individual Race Of Champions over two heats, where the competitors change starting position each time. In a 1-1 draw, the driver advances with the best total time. In the ROC Nations Cup, the competitions in round 1 and the quarter finals are decided over four heats, so each driver will compete against both drivers from the other team. In the event of a 2-2 draw, the team with the best total time will advance.
Draw ROC Nations Cup (Saturday 5 February)
Qualifying:
Team LATINAMERICA (Helio Castroneves & Benito Guerra) vs. Team USA (Jimmie Johnson & Colton Herta)
Team GERMANY (Sebastian Vettel & Mick Schumacher) vs. Team eROC ALL STARS (the top two from Thursday's eROC final)
Kvartsfinal:
Team LATINAMERICA or Team USA vs. Team GERMANY or Team eROC ALL STARS
Team FINLAND (Mika Hakkinen & Valtteri Bottas) vs. UNITED KINGDOM Team (David Coulthard & Jamie Chadwick)
Team NORDIC (Tom Kristensen & Johan Kristoffersson) vs. Team FRANCE (Sébastien Loeb & Didier Auriol)
Team SWEDEN (Mattias Ekström & Timmy Hansen) vs. Team NORWAY (Petter Solberg & Oliver Solberg)
Dragning Race Of Champions (Sunday, February 6)
Pre-qualification:
Colton HERTA vs. Helio CASTRONEVES
Jamie CHADWICK vs. Mick SCHUMACHER
Round of 16:
HERTA or CASTRONEVES vs. CHADWICK or SCHUMACHER
Sebastian VETTEL vs. Valtteri BOTTAS
Jimmie JOHNSON vs. Mika HAKKINEN
Tom KRISTENSEN vs. David COULTHARD
Benito GUERRA vs. Oliver SOLBERG
Sébastien LOEB vs. Petter SOLBERG
Johan KRISTOFFERSSON vs. Timmy HANSEN
Didier AURIOL vs. Mattias EKSTRÖM
Drivers competing in the 2022 Race Of Champions World Final
Sebastian Vettel - four-time F1 world champion
Mick Schumacher - FIA F2 and F3 champion
Jimmie Johnson - seven-time NASCAR champion
Mika Häkkinen - double F1 world champion
Valtteri Bottas - winner of 10 F1 grand prix
Sébastien Loeb - nine-time world champion in rally
Tom Kristensen - nine-time Le Mans winner
Johan Kristoffersson - four-time FIA world champion in rallycross
Petter Solberg - FIA World Rally and World Rallycross Champion
Oliver Solberg - rising WRC star
Mattias Ekström - World Rallycross champion, double DTM champion and triple winner of Race Of Champions
Helio Castroneves - four-time Indy 500 champion
Colton Herta - youngest competing winner in the IndyCar Series
Didier Auriol - four-time ROC winner
Benito Guerra - reigning ROC champion
Timmy Hansen - FIA world champion in rallycross
David Coulthard - winner of 13 F1 grand prix
Jamie Chadwick - Double W Series Champion
The event can be followed LIVE all over the world through various channels, including SVT1 and SVT Play (Sweden), C More Max and Cmore.fi (Finland), NRK (Norway), Canal + (France, Switzerland), Sky Sports Germany (Germany ), Austria, Switzerland), Sky Sports (UK, Ireland), Portable TV (large parts of Europe), NENT (Denmark, Iceland), Ziggo (Netherlands), Abola (Portugal), TV3 (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania), Inception Media (Romania), RTL (Croatia), Cosmote TV (Greece), Cablenet (Cyprus), S Sport (Turkey), MavTV and MotorTrendonDemand (USA), REV TV (Canada), Fox Sports 3 (Latin America), ESPN4 ( Brazil)), Supersport (South Africa), Canal + and Supersport (Africa), J-Sports (Japan), Astro (Malaysia, Brunei), FPT (Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam), EMTEK (Indonesia, East Timor) and HK -Cable (Hong Kong).
Visit www.raceofchampions.com, Race Of Champions on Facebook plus @raceofchampions and #ROCSweden on Twitter for access to rights-free high-resolution photos and to stay up to date with the latest news ahead of this year's event.
