Tom Kristensen will face the reigning F1 World Champion
Sebastian Vettel, who is on home ground in the German arena. The
two star drivers ended up in Group D for the individual ROC event
together with F1 driver Vitaly Petrov and GP2 Champion Romain
Grosjean.
"I really look forward to the weekend. As always Race of Champions
is an event that marks the end of the season and I keep getting
impressed by how a stadium can be transformed into an arena with
tarmac and racing circuit in such a short time. It is a fantastic
venue to meet with all the colleagues. The atmosphere is always
cosy and relaxed, but when we jump in the car and pull down our
visors we are still racing drivers. I know there will be some Danes
in the stadium, and I hope to find them so I can give them "thumbs
up". We get to try the cars on Friday and again this year I hope to
get to race in all of them during the weekend. I am also glad that
I go head on with Vettel in the first round - that way you quickly
find out if you are going to be the Champion of Champions 2011,"
Tom Kristensen says with a wink of his eye.
As always the drivers are split into groups of four for a
round-robin first stage, with the stars of world motor sport going
head to head for two-lap races on a parallel track for the right to
participate in the knockout stages. The array of vehicles this year
include the powerful Audi R8 LMS, VW Scirocco and Skoda Fabia Super
2000 rally car. They will run alongside ROC favourites such as the
ROC car, KTM X-Bow, World Touring Racecar and the RX150
buggy.
Before the Race Of Champions on Sunday December 4, the stadium will
play host to the ROC Nations Cup on Saturday December 3.
Here Tom Kristensen will team up with the S-WRC champion Juho
Hänninen on Team Nordic. They will go up against the rest of Group
A, which consist of Team France (Sébastien Ogier & Romain
Grosjean), Team USA (Travis Pastrana & Brian Deegan) and SAT1
Team Germany (Timo Glock & Timo Scheider).
"I am looking forward to meet Juho. I know from his achievements
that he has great talent. And there is nothing better than to see
the determination in the eyes of a young rally champion," says the
eight-time Le Mans winner.
Tom Kristensen won the ROC Nations Cup in 2005 with DTM star
Mattias Ekström as Team Scandinavia.
OVERVIEW
Race Of Champions (Sunday December
4)
Group A
Filipe ALBUQUERQUE, DTM star and reigning ROC Champion of
Champions
Andy PRIAULX, three-time World Touring Car Champion
David COULTHARD, winner of 13 Formula 1 grand prix
Travis PASTRANA, four-time Rally America winner and X-Games
legend
Group B
Mattias EKSTROM, DTM star and triple ROC Champion of
Champions
Martin TOMCZYK, 2011 DTM Champion
Jan KOPECKÝ, three-time Intercontinental Rally Challenge
runner-up
Sébastien OGIER, winner of five WRC rallies in 2011
Group C
Michael SCHUMACHER, seven-time Formula 1 World Champion
Jenson BUTTON, 2009 Formula 1 World Champion
Brian DEEGAN, 13 X-games medals including Rally Cross gold in
2011
Juho HÄNNINEN, 2011 S-WRC champion and 2010 IRC champion
Group D
Tom KRISTENSEN, eight-time Le Mans 24-Hour race winner
Sebastian VETTEL, 2010 and 2011 Formula 1 World Champion
Vitaly PETROV, Formula 1 driver for Lotus Renault GP
Romain GROSJEAN, 2011 GP2 Series Champion
ROC Nations Cup (Saturday December 3)
Group A
Team Nordic (Tom KRISTENSEN & Juho HÄNNINEN)
Team France (Sébastien OGIER & Romain GROSJEAN)
Team USA (Travis PASTRANA & Brian DEEGAN)
SAT1 Team Germany 2 (Timo GLOCK & Timo SCHEIDER)
Group B
Team Germany (Michael SCHUMACHER & Sebastian VETTEL)
Team Slavic (Vitaly PETROV & Jan KOPECKÝ)
Team Great Britain (Jenson BUTTON & Andy PRIAULX)
Team All Stars (David COULTHARD & Filipe ALBUQUERQUE)