• The draw for this weekend’s Race Of Champions at Mexico City’s Foro Sol has thrown together a host of intriguing head-to-head battles between some of the world’s greatest drivers
• The home crowd will have plenty to cheer as Mexican NASCAR ace Daniel Suárez and rally specialist Benito Guerra have been drawn to race four-time Formula 1 World Champion Sebastian Vettel
• Red Bull Racing’s Formula 1 star Pierre Gasly will go up against Mexico’s F1 racer Esteban Gutierrez while 2018 Indy Lights Champion Patricio O'Ward will face ‘Mr Le Mans’ Tom Kristensen


• The field was today completed by triple World Touring Car Champion Andy Priaulx, who will also race for Team GB in the ROC Nations Cup alongside reigning ROC Champion of Champions David Coulthard

The draw for this weekend’s Race Of Champions (19-20 January) has thrown up a selection of mouth-watering match-ups as some of the world’s greatest drivers bid for the title of ‘Champion of Champions’.

Mexico City’s Foro Sol – the iconic stadium section forming part of the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez Formula 1 circuit – played host to today’s draw. ROC Mexico Project Manager Juan Pablo Sánchez and Mexican TV presenter Giselle Zarur picked the group line-ups. There are already a number of ties guaranteed to quicken the pulse of any race fan – featuring some of the world’s best drivers from series including F1, IndyCar, NASCAR, Rallycross and Le Mans.

The home crowd will have plenty to cheer as Mexican drivers take on the cream of the current Formula 1 grid in Sunday’s individual race. NASCAR ace Daniel Suárez will race four-time F1 World Champion Sebastian Vettel while home F1 star Esteban Gutierrez will go up against Red Bull Racing’s latest recruit Pierre Gasly.

Mick Schumacher will also have a potential race against his fellow German Vettel if he can win his first round play-off with Mexican sportscar ace Memo Rojas.

Elsewhere Mexico’s 2018 Indy Lights Champion Patricio O’Ward will have to battle ‘Mr Le Mans’ Tom Kristensen and 13-time F1 grand prix winner David Coulthard, while reigning World RallyX Champion Johan Kristoffersson will face Formula E Champion Lucas di Grassi and 2017 IndyCar Champion Josef Newgarden.

The top two from each group will progress to the quarter-finals. Then it’s a straight knockout tournament all the way to the best-of-three Grand Final, in which the ROC Champion of Champions will be crowned.

Ahead of the individual Race Of Champions, the weekend’s action will begin with Saturday’s ROC Nations Cup where national pride is at stake, with 10 teams split over three groups.

Group A features four teams (Germany, Mexico, Infinitum Mexico and France), with the top two moving on to the semi-finals. The winners of Group B (Brazil, Telcel Mexico and Sim Racing All Stars) and Group C (Nordic, GB and USA) will also progress. The knockout rounds are best-of-three: if scores are tied at 1-1 after the first two heats, the third decisive heat is always contested by the two winning drivers.

The ROC Mexico line-up was today completed by Britain’s triple World Touring Car Champion Andy Priaulx, who said: “The Race Of Champions is such a fun event and one I love taking part in. It is great to be pitched against the world’s best drivers and to know we are all on a level playing field. The cars are totally different to those we usually drive, so there is always a challenge to get used to them. Fredrik Johnsson and his team put on a great show so I can't wait to get to Mexico, catch up with everyone and start racing…”

ROC Nations Cup Draw (Saturday 19 January)

Group A
Team GERMANY (Sebastian Vettel & Mick Schumacher)
Team MEXICO (Esteban Gutierrez & Patricio O’Ward)
Team INFINITUM MEXICO (Memo Rojas & Benito Guerra)
Team FRANCE (Pierre Gasly & Loïc Duval)

Group B
Team BRAZIL (Helio Castroneves & Lucas di Grassi)
Team TELCEL MEXICO (Daniel Suárez & ROC Mexico Saturday winner*)
Team SIM RACING ALL STARS (Enzo Bonito & eROC winner)

Group C 
Team NORDIC (Tom Kristensen & Johan Kristoffersson)
Team GREAT BRITAIN (David Coulthard & Andy Priaulx)
Team USA (Ryan Hunter-Reay & Josef Newgarden)

Race Of Champions Draw (Sunday 20 January)

Group A
David COULTHARD (Great Britain) 13-time Formula 1 grand prix winner 
Tom KRISTENSEN (Denmark) nine-time Le Mans 24 Hours winner
Patricio O’WARD (Mexico) 2018 Indy Lights Champion
Winner of Round 1A between the ROC Mexico Sunday winner* and Andy PRIAULX

Group B
Johan KRISTOFFERSSON (Sweden) double FIA World Rallycross Champion
Lucas DI GRASSI (Brazil) 2016-2017 Formula E Champion
Josef NEWGARDEN (USA) 2017 IndyCar Champion
Winner of Round 1B between Loïc DUVAL and Helio CASTRONEVES

Group C
Sebastian VETTEL (Germany) four-time Formula 1 World Champion
Daniel SUAREZ (Mexico) 2016 NASCAR Xfinity Series Champion
Benito GUERRA (Mexico) 2012 Production World Rally Champion
Winner of Round 1C between Memo ROJAS and Mick SCHUMACHER

Group D
Pierre GASLY (France) Formula 1 driver for Red Bull Racing in 2019
Esteban GUTIERREZ (Mexico) Formula 1 driver for Sauber and Haas
Ryan HUNTER-REAY (USA) 2014 Indianapolis 500 winner
Winner of Round 1D between Enzo BONITO and the 2019 eROC Champion

*Before each day’s action Mexican drivers Rubén García Jr, Pancho Name, Abraham Calderón, Martín Fuentes, Ricardo Triviño, Rubén Rovelo, Ricardo Sánchez and Ricardo Cordero will fight it out for a place in the ROC field.

Draw for this weekend’s ROC Mexico pitches home heroes against Formula 1 superstars

• Formula 1 Mexico City’s Nascar México Racing’s Sports
• At 1/17/2019 05:04:00 p.m.
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A dominant victory in the penultimate round of the 2017 FIA World Endurance Championship for Toyota was not enough to prevent Porsche from winning the World Manufacturers’ Championship today in Shanghai.  Second place for the No.2 Porsche 919 Hybrid crew of Timo Bernhard, Earl Bamber and Brendon Hartley gave them a well-deserved 2017 FIA World Endurance Drivers’ title with one round remaining. It is Bernhard and Hartley’s second championship title (first in 2015) and Bamber’s first.  Toyota’s No.8 TS050 HYBRID of Kazuki Nakajima, Anthony Davidson and Sébastien Buemi led a convincing display by the Japanese manufacturer, although the result could have been very different in terms of the race result and the championship situation had the No.7 Toyota of José Maria Lopez not clashed with one of the leading GTE Pro cars in the final hour.  The result saw the Japanese car forced to pit and the two Porsche 919 Hybrids move up to second and third, while the delayed Toyota ultimately came in fourth. It was Toyota Gazoo Racing’s fourth win of the season meaning that the eight races have been completely split between the Japanese marque and their rivals Porsche, with one round remaining.  Rounding out the podium in Shanghai was the No.1 Porsche 919 Hybrid of Neel Jani, André Lotterer and Nick Tandy. Their race was compromised in the first hour when Tandy slowed with a throttle sensor issue.  It was an ultra-successful day for Porsche as they also took the FIA World Endurance Manufacturers Championship, and as with the Drivers’ title it was also the third consecutive time Porsche has lifted the trophy.  An enthusiastic crowd of 58,000 spectators over the weekend at Shanghai International Circuit saw a memorable event and went home having witnessed an incredible race which was full of action, drama and tension.  For all classifications and timing CLICK HERE Retrouvez ICI tous les articles de notre site en version française

Vaillante Rebellion take epic LMP2 contest  One of the best ever LMP2 races was won by the No.31 Vaillante Rebellion squad in Shanghai as Bruno Senna, Nicolas Prost and Julien Canal triumphed for the third time this season.  In a race of incident and excitement Senna laid the foundations for the win which takes him and Canal to the lead of the championship by four points (Prost having missed a race earlier in the year).  Their chief rivals during the race were the Jackie Chan DC Racing trio of Oliver Jarvis, Ho-Pin Tung and Thomas Laurent. The three-time category winners had seemed to have built a race-winning platform after a stellar double stint from Jarvis, but then a fraught final two hours saw a collision between their No.38 ORECA 07 and the No.26 G-Drive Racing car. Damage to the front of their car meant they eventually finished in fourth position.  Runners-up in Shanghai today were the Signatech Alpine crew of Nicolas Lapierre, Gustavo Menezes and André Negrão. Today’s result keeps Menezes in outside contention for the LMP2 Drivers’ crown.  Making it two Vaillante Rebellion entries in the top three was the No.13 car of Nelson Piquet Jr, David Heinemeier-Hansson and Mathias Beche. They recovered from contact on the opening lap to score their second podium position of the season, with Dane Heinemeier Hansson having a particularly strong race. The final round of the 2017 WEC season is the Bapco 6 Hours of Bahrain which will race into the night on Saturday 18th November.  Provisional classifications can be found HERE and race facts HERE.

Toyota wins in Shanghai; Porsche seals World Championships

• Championship FIA FIA World Endurance Championship Racing’s Shanghai Sport
• At 11/05/2017 06:29:00 p.m.
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