The Race of Champions 2009 will be held in Beijing at China's national stadium. Notable motorcycle racers including Travis Pastrana, Troy Bayliss, and Valentino Rossi have participated in the past.
The Race of Champions 2009 to become first major international sports event to take place in China’s national stadium since 2008 Olympic Games - Event date moved to early November, immediately after Abu Dhabi Grand Prix The Race of Champions - the ultimate end-of-season motorsport battle – will become the first major international sports event to be staged at China’s national stadium since the 2008 Summer Olympics when it takes place on November 3-4, 2009. The “Bird’s Nest” stadium will host the event, which moves from Wembley after a two-year run at England’s national stadium and three years at the Stade de France in Paris. The 2009 event, which will start just two days after the Formula 1 season reaches its climax in Abu Dhabi, will move from a weekend to a midweek event for the first time. The event will be staged over two days, with the ROC Nations Cup on Tuesday, November 3 and The Race of Champions on Wednesday, November 4, to offer spectators a more extensive exhibitions line-up, plus the possibility of more competitors and teams than ever before.
Speaking about the move, Fredrik Johnsson, President of Event Organisers IMP, enthused, “we received exciting proposals from five world-class stadia, but after the incredible Olympics last year, Beijing’s candidacy was difficult to ignore. The Bird’s Nest venue is awesome and having spent the last five years at two of Europe’s biggest stadiums, we were thrilled about the opportunity to take The Race of Champions to Asia for the first time, to another of the world’s most iconic sporting arenas.” Mr Li Jianyi, General Manager of Beijing CITIC Consortium Stadium Management Co., Ltd., the managing company of the Bird's Nest, said of the agreement: “Following last year’s Olympics, we now possess one of the world’s best sporting stadia and will continue to stage elite international sporting competition in Beijing. We are very excited about The Race of Champions coming. The stadium has already hosted the world’s fastest athletes; now it will host the world’s fastest racers.” “I would like to say thank you to Wembley for the past two years,” Johnsson continued. “The people there were great to work with and helped us put on two fantastic events. This year will be the Race of Champions’ first year outside of Europe, but we will definitely be back soon.” Last year’s Race of Champions attracted the most successful ever drivers from Formula 1 (Michael Schumacher), World Rallying (Sebastien Loeb), the Le Mans 24 Hours (Tom Kristensen), and World Touring Cars (Andy Priaulx), as well as F1 race winners Jenson Button, David Coulthard and Sebastian Vettel, plus Triple World Superbike Champion Troy Bayliss. Others to have competed in the past include Valentino Rossi, Fernando Alonso and Colin McRae.
The Race of Champions was started in 1988 by Fredrik Johnsson and Michèle Mouton, the world’s most successful female rally driver. The event has traditionally moved from venue to venue around the world, being most recently held at the Stade de France in Paris (2004-2006) and Wembley Stadium in London (2007-2008). The 2009 event will take place in The Beijing National Stadium on Tuesday 3 and Wednesday 4 November, on a specially constructed asphalt circuit. The Race Of Champions is made up of two separate competitions – The ROC Nations Cup and The Race of Champions itself.
Each competition pits drivers against each other in a head-to-head knockout format, with equal equipment ensuring races are won and lost on talent alone. The ROC Nations Cup features drivers paired into teams based on their nationality. The teams then battle head-to-head against each other in knockout competition. Last year Team Germany (Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel) beat Team Scandinavia (Tom Kristensen and Mattias Ekström) in the final. The Race Of Champions is a straightforward knockout competition, where drivers go head-to-head until the champion is decided. In last year’s Final, Sébastien Loeb beat David Coulthard in the third race of a best-of-three battle. Drivers who competed in The Race of Champions 2008 include: Seven-times F1 World Champion Michael Schumacher (Team Germany) Five-times World Rally Champion Sébastien Loeb (Team France) Eight-times Le Mans 24 Hour Winner Tom Kristensen (Team Scandinavia) Triple World Touring Car Champion Andy Priaulx (Team Autosport Great Britain) World Touring Car Champion and former British Touring Car Champion Yvan Muller (Team France) Triple Superbike World Champion Troy Bayliss (Team Australia) Double DTM Champion and two-times Race of Champions winner Mattias Ekström (Team Scandinavia) 2007 NASCAR Nationwide Series Champion Carl Edwards (Team USA) F1 race winner David Coulthard (Team F1 Racing Great Britain) Brawn GP race winner Jenson Button (Team Autosport Great Britain) Red Bull F1 race winner Sebastian Vettel (Team Germany).
