Four-times South African touring car champion and winner of the 2009 Dakar Rally, Giniel de Villiers, has been invited to compete in this year’s Race of Champions, which takes place at the Bird’s Nest Stadium in Beijing on November 2 to 4.De Villiers will become the first South African to compete in the ROC when he partners up with former Formula One driver David Coulthard in The ROC Nations Cup competition as the All Stars team prior to his participation in The Race of Champions. Coulthard hopes to better his second-place finish at last year’s ROC, when top honours were taken by world rally champion Sebastian Loeb at Wembley Stadium in England.
“I’m delighted to have been invited to this prestigious event,” said De Villiers. “To be competing alongside most of the world’s best drivers is going to be a great honour and challenge that I’m sure I will never forget. It’s also an event that’s run for a great cause (raising funds for the Institute for Research on Brain and Spinal Cord Disorders) and I’m very happy to be associated with it.”
De Villiers is no stranger to tough competition, but at this year’s ROC he faces some of the best that motorsports has to offer. Among the competitors are:
- Seven-times F1 World Champion Michael Schumacher (Team Germany)
- Eight-times Le Mans 24 Hours winner Tom Kristensen Team Scandinavia)
- 2009 F1 World Champion Jenson Button (Team Great Britain)
- Red Bull Racing F1 race winner Sebastian Vettel (Team Germany)
- World Rally Championship runner-up Mikko Hirvonen (Team Finland)
- Five-times MotoGP Champion Mick Doohan (Team Australia)
- Triple World Touring Car Champion Andy Priaulx (Team Great Britain)
- Double DTM Champion and two-time Race of Champions winner Mattias Ekström (Team Scandinavia)
- World Touring Car Champion Yvan Muller (Team France)
- V8 Supercars Champion Jamie Whincup (Team Australia)
- Double Formula Drift National Champion Tanner Foust (Team USA)
The much event will be comprise three separate competitions – ROC China, The ROC Nations Cup and The Race of Champions itself. Each competition pits drivers against one another in a head-to-head format, with equal equipment ensuring races are contested on talent alone.
ROC China on November 2 will decide which drivers represent the host country in The ROC Nations Cup, which takes place the following day.The ROC Nations Cup features drivers paired into teams based on their nationality. In 2009, a group stage will decide which four teams progress to the semi-finals, when a best-of-three knockout competition will determine who makes it to the final. Last year Team Germany (Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel) beat Team Scandinavia (Tom Kristensen and Mattias Ekström) in the final to win The ROC Nations Cup for a second consecutive year.
In The Race of Champions individual drivers go head-to-head until the champion is decided. In 2009, a group stage will be held to decide the final eight drivers, before the traditional knockout format resumes for the quarter-finals.
