Denmark's Kristensen is acknowledged as the finest endurance
racer in motor sport history. He has a record eight victories in
the Le Mans 24-Hour race, plus five wins at the Sebring 12-Hour
race and an American Le Mans Series title. This year his bid for Le
Mans victory was stopped by Allan McNish's dramatic crash but he
will be back for more in 2012.
Kristensen is also starting to set another endurance record of his
own at the Race Of Champions. Of the 2011 drivers, he has the
longest run of ROC appearances, dating back to 2001 when it was
still held in Gran Canaria. In fact this year's event will be his
11th consecutive Race Of Champions.
In 2005 Tom K reached the individual Grand Final in Paris and won
the ROC Nations Cup for Team Scandinavia alongside Sweden's Mattias
Ekström. The pair also reached the ROC Nations Cup final in 2008 at
Wembley (pictured) and they have been reunited this year.
Kristensen said: "The Race Of Champions is a great event: that's
why I keep coming back! I always enjoy partnering Mattias in the
ROC Nations Cup too: we don't usually compete against such a wide
range of opponents in our normal professional life so to have a
chance to race against such talented drivers is fantastic. What's
particularly nice is to see everyone enjoying themselves off the
track. It's also fun to jump in and out of different fast cars in
front of such an enthusiastic public. You can really hear them in
the cockpit over the noise of the engines…"
ROC race organiser Fredrik Johnsson said: "We're delighted that
Tom keeps coming back to the Race Of Champions. He's a genuine
legend who has dominated his area of motor sport for over a decade.
Tom's a great crowd-pleaser in the stadium and I'm sure that he and
Mattias will be a big threat to Team Germany and the other pairings
in the ROC Nations Cup."
The Race Of Champions is an annual end-of-season competition that
brings together the world's greatest drivers from all motor sport's
disciplines - including Formula 1, world rally, touring cars, Le
Mans and the X-Games - and sets them free to battle head-to-head in
identical machinery on a specially constructed parallel track.
Drivers pair up for the ROC Nations Cup, this year scheduled for
Saturday 3 December, before the individual Race Of Champions takes
place on Sunday 4 December.
Drivers confirmed so far for ROC 2011 include Michael Schumacher,
Sebastian Vettel and Jenson Button - who have ten Formula 1 world
championships between them. Plenty more big names will be added in
the run-up to the event at Düsseldorf in December. For information
about tickets (starting from €19) please visit the website
www.raceofchampions.com.
Drivers already confirmed for the 2011 Race Of
Champions:
• Sebastian VETTEL, 2010 and 2011 Formula 1 World Champion
• Michael SCHUMACHER, seven-time Formula 1 World Champion
• Jenson BUTTON, 2009 Formula 1 World Champion
• Andy PRIAULX, three-time World Touring Car Champion
• Mattias EKSTROM, DTM star and triple ROC Champion of
Champions
• Travis PASTRANA, four-time Rally America winner and X-Games
legend
• Romain GROSJEAN, 2011 GP2 Series Champion
• Sébastien OGIER, five wins in 2011 World Rally
Championship
• Martin TOMCZYK, 2011 DTM Champion
• Tom KRISTENSEN, eight-time Le Mans 24-Hour race winner