The “Race of Champions” (ROC) race event featuring drivers from around the world competing in five or six different types of moving vehicles has been cancelled due to the political unrest in Bangkok. The ROC was set to take place in Bangkok, Thailand but will not occur due to political unrest in the country. The ROC in Bangkok last year went on without a hitch, marking the 25th consecutive year the event took place. But now event organizers will need to seek other options for resuscitating the event for 2014.
Lotus Formula One driver Romain Grosjean was the “Champion of Champions” in 2012 with fellow Frenchman Sebastien Ogier of WRC fame the younger Sebastien compared to nine-time consecutive champion Sebastien Loeb scoring the overall title in 2011. Germany captured the ROC Nation’s Cup last year with the most successful duo of Formula One World Champions, seven-time champ Michael Schumacher and now-four-time champ Sebastian Vettel.
The 12 drivers announced thus far for 2013 include Schumacher, Ogier, Tom Kristensen (Le Mans/FIA World Endurance Championship), David Coulthard (ex-F1), Narain Karthikeyan (ex-F1), Karun Chandhok (ex-F1), Jamie Whincup (Australian V8 Supercars), Susie Wolff (Williams F1 reserve), Mattias Ekstrom (DTM), Fabio Leimer (GP2), Mick Doohan (MotoGP), and most recently, Red Bull’s base diving hero Felix Baumgartner.
They will all compete head-to-head in matches that include the Audi R8 LMS, VW Scirocco Cup, Ariel Atom Cup, Toyota GT86, an ROC Buggy and the KTM X-Bow. A NASCAR stock car was removed from the vehicle list for this year.
