ROC 2011

[Anna]

Champions go head to head at ROC


Schumacher and Button have been drawn together in the group stages

Thursday 1 December 2011 - 16h28, by Olivier Ferret
Formula 1 world champions Michael Schumacher and Jenson Button have been drawn together in the group stages for the Race Of Champions
Reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel will face Le Mans legend Tom Kristensen, F1’s Vitaly Petrov and GP2 champion Romain Grosjean
Team Germany begins its ROC Nations Cup defence against Team Slavic, Team All Stars and Team GB, runners-up for the last two years

The stage is set for a thrilling Race Of Champions following the draw for the opening group stages for this weekend’s event at Düsseldorf’s ESPRIT arena. The stadium will play host to the ROC Nations Cup on Saturday December 3 followed by the Race Of Champions itself on Sunday December 4.

A dazzling line-up of motor sport stars including current Formula 1 world champion Sebastian Vettel and seven-time title winner Michael Schumacher featured in the draw made at the stadium by F1 grand prix winner Heinz-Harald Frentzen and DTM racer Timo Scheider (pictured alongside Patrik Meyer of German promoter TSP and ROC race organiser Fredrik Johnsson).

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 draw has set up some exciting duels, with Schumacher lined up to battle with fellow F1 world champion Jenson Button – along with X-Games great Brian Deegan and rally ace Jan Kopecký. Vettel faces another tough group with Le Mans legend Tom Kristensen, fellow F1 driver Vitaly Petrov and GP2 champion Romain Grosjean.

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 grands 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
Sebastian VETTEL, 2010 and 2011 Formula 1 World Champion
Tom KRISTENSEN, eight-time Le Mans 24-Hour race winner
Vitaly PETROV, Formula 1 driver for Lotus Renault GP
Romain GROSJEAN, 2011 GP2 Series Champion

The action begins on Saturday evening with the ROC Nations Cup, when home heroes Schumacher and Vettel aim for an incredible fifth consecutive title together for Team Germany. The German pair will again go up against Button and triple World Touring Car Champion Andy Priaulx as they have been drawn against Team GB, the runners-up for the past two years.

ROC Nations Cup (Saturday December 3)

Group A
Team France (Sébastien OGIER & Romain GROSJEAN)
Team Nordic (Tom KRISTENSEN & Juho HÄNNINEN)
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)

Speaking after the draw, Frentzen said: “Taking a look at the groups I have to say the crowds will definitely see several very interesting duels: F1 stars against rally aces, DTM drivers against sportscar stars. It couldn’t have worked out much better so the spectators can already look forward to a lot of thrilling race action.”

Frentzen will himself take part in a special ROC Legends Cup race on Sunday alongside fellow German F1 veteran Hans-Joachim Stuck plus former European rally champion Marc Duez and 1984 world rally champion Stig Blomqvist. Swedish legend Blomqvist is a replacement for F1’s Jos Verstappen, who was forced to pull out due to a late clash of commitments.

As well as a stellar driver line-up, the Race Of Champions features an impressive array of vehicles including 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.

There is a full programme of entertainment featuring the Red Bull FMX show, Chris Pfeiffer Streetbike Freestyle Rider and stunt driver Terry Grant’s world record attempt for driving on two wheels. Newly-signed Volkswagen World Rally Championship driver Sébastien Ogier will also do a demonstration run in the all-new VW Polo WRC car.

[Anna]

Link

You can watch ROC on their site live for free

[kelli52]

Team Germany won the Race of Champions Nations' Cup for a fifth straight year with a commanding performance in Dusseldorf on Saturday night.

The German squad of Sebastian Vettel and Michael Schumacher overcame Team Nordic's Tom Kristensen and Juho Hanninen 2-0 in the final to continue the country's unprecedented run of success.

Schumacher began the final by inflicting a first defeat of the night on Le Mans legend Kristensen, the Dane losing touch with the seven-time world champion thanks to a big slide in his KTM X-bow on his final lap.

It was a similar story in the second heat as Hanninen overdid a handbrake turn while racing Vettel in RoC Buggies, and lost over three seconds. From that point, Vettel was able to calmly complete the victory.

Nordic's progress from the semi-finals was straightforward; a 2-0 victory over France coming as Kristensen beat Romain Grosjean in Audi R8s and then Hanninen triumphed over Sebastien Ogier in Volkswagen Scirocco Cup cars.

Germany had things a little tougher against Team Great Britain. Jenson Button gave GB a 1-0 lead after overturning a 0.5s deficit to Schumacher at the halfway point of their clash in NASCAR-style FJV8 Race Cars, but Vettel pulled his nation level with a victory over Andy Priaulx in X-bows.

A deciding heat between Vettel and Button in X-bows was resolved when the Briton spun on his second lap, handing his opponent victory and a spot in the final.

The group stage was largely uneventful; the most dramatic moment in Group A coming when Team USA's Travis Pastrana turned in too late to the chicane and clobbered the barrier, his Skoda Fabia S2000 rally car lifting up on top of the retaining wall before ending up head on in the temporary wall a few yards further on.

That incident handed a race win to Hanninen and more or less sealed Nordic's place in the knock-out stages. USA finished bottom of the group with Pastrana and Brian Deegan managing just a single win between them.

Germany's B-team, comprising Timo Glock and Timo Scheider, was the other unlucky outfit.

The first race of Group B resulted in a big upset; Schumacher being beaten in X-bows by fellow Formula 1 driver Vitaly Petrov of Team Slavic.

The German A-team still had more than enough quality to progress though, even if Vettel was defeated by Button in the final race before the knock-out stages; a result that ended up with Great Britain as group winners. Slavic and an All-Stars squad of David Coulthard and last year's Race of Champions winner Filipe Albuquerque were eliminated.

[kelli52]

None of the Formula 1 contingent made it to the final in the main event at this year's Race of Champions.

The good-natured but ultra-competitive annual contest sees top names from F1, rallying, sportscars, touring cars and extreme sports take each other on in an array of machinery in head to head knockout races around an arena, with the 2011 running taking place in Dusseldorf.

World champion Sebastian Vettel, fellow German legend Michael Schumacher, ex-F1 man David Coulthard and Renault's Vitaly Petrov and tester Romain Grosjean were present to uphold F1 honour, but only Schumacher would get as far as the semi finals.

Last night Schumacher and Vettel had teamed up to win the Nations' Cup element for Germany.

Today they blitzed individual paths through their heats, only to come up against each other in the quarter finals.

Driving special RoC buggies, it was the seven-time F1 champion who overcame the two-time champion, as Schumacher knocked Vettel out of contention.

But Schumacher would only get one step further, as Le Mans legend Tom Kristensen saw him off in an ultra-close semi-final race in KTM X-bow sportscars.

Coulthard had also reached the quarter finals, but was stopped there by DTM touring car champion Martin Tomczyk, who beat him in Skoda Fabia rally cars.

Grosjean and Petrov were eliminated in the heats.

Petrov did not manage a single win, and was beaten by Grosjean - ironically his big rival for the second 2012 Lotus Renault seat alongside Kimi Raikkonen - in their heat match-up in Skodas.

But Grosjean was unlucky not to get further, as his heat results meant he was stuck in a tie-break with Kristensen and Vettel, all on two wins apiece, and the organisers had to use their combined lap times to split them.

That meant Grosjean lost out to Vettel by just half a second.

With all the F1 men out of the way, the final was fought out between rally star Sebastien Ogier and Kristensen, with the Frenchman blasting to victory on his RoC debut.

[kelli52]

Sebastien Ogier won the Race of Champions with a comprehensive 2-0 victory over Tom Kristensen in the final at Dusseldorf's Esprit Arena.

The 27-year-old Frenchman, who earlier this month signed to head Volkswagen's return to the World Rally Championship in 2013, was in imperious form and lost only one of his seven head-to-head encounters all afternoon.

After beating DTM champion Martin Tomczyk in Audi R8 LMS GT3s to make it into the final, he triumphed over Le Mans legend Kristensen in both RoC buggies and then the Audis again to take the outright prize.

He becomes the third Frenchman to win the RoC, joining Didier Auriol and Sebastien Loeb.

Ogier said: "I'm so happy. It's been a very nice weekend and a lot of fun to drive here. It's amazing, especially to win against Mr Kristensen, who has so much experience."

His opponent Kristensen put out Michael Schumacher in the semi-finals, the Dane coming from behind at the halfway point to beat the seven-time Formula 1 world champion by just 0.018s in KTM X-bows.

Schumacher triumphed in a battle of the heavyweights in the quarter-finals, putting out F1 world title holder Sebastian Vettel in RoC buggies, while former F1 champion Jenson Button also exited proceedings at this stage, the McLaren driver put out by Kristensen in X-bows.

Ogier easily knocked out the previously unbeaten Andy Priaulx in Volkswagen Scirocco Cup cars, while Tomczyk put the mockers on David Coulthard's hopes in Skoda Fabia S2000 rally cars.

The group stages produced an immediate shock as defending RoC champion Filipe Albuquerque went out without a single race win. The DTM driver was unfortunate to suffer an engine problem in his Audi R8 LMS during his opening encounter against Travis Pastrana, but still finished bottom of Group A.

Pastrana also went out as Priaulx and Coulthard progressed; the BMW GT driver going through with a perfect record.

There was another surprise in Group B as three-time RoC winner Mattias Ekstrom was eliminated. The Swede finished third in his group and went out along with Jan Kopecky, while Ogier and Tomczyk progressed.

Schumacher was the only driver other than Priaulx to maintain a 100 per cent record through the group stages, the German closing out proceedings with a win over Button in the FJV8s while Juho Hanninen and Brian Deegan were eliminated.

X-games legend Deegan had one of the most incident-filled afternoons, suffering a jumped-start penalty and two spins in X-bows against Schumacher, and then being hit with another penalty in FJV8s against Hanninen.

The most closely-fought contest came in Group D. As Kristensen and Vettel prepared to face off in Skodas in the final race, each knew that a victory would be necessary to ensure progression.

Kristensen won, sealing his spot in the last eight, but Vettel's losing time - his best of the night at that point - was 0.5s quicker than Romain Grosjean's, meaning that with the pair tied on two wins each, it was the German who went through on times.