Race of Champions 2018: The begining of the end?

Whilst the Bathurst 12 Hour in Australia is taking place, the 29th Race of Champions will take place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Yes Saudi Arabia, a country that has so much motor racing history and has drivers from various motorsport categories…not.

As you can tell from the title and the start of this article, it’s not all going to be positive. This is why the ROC have decided to go to Saudi Arabia. “As motorsport’s most forward-thinking property, ROC is an event perfectly suited to Saudi Arabia, which is emerging as a modern sports market on the global stage. When is the Saudi Arabia ever going to emerge as a heavyweight country in the motorsports world? Is it ever going to produce the superstars or have the pedigree that the likes of the UK, America, Italy or Germany have and will continue to?

“With women able to drive in Saudi Arabia from 2018, we feel this is an auspicious moment to be bringing a motorsport event to Riyadh. Race Of Champions is more than just a race: it is a truly global contest that includes many of the world’s best drivers along with top-quality entertainment for families.” Does a country that’s treated women pretty badly deserve to host a motorsport event or is it perhaps right to show that changes are happening by hosting an event such as this?

But, it’s not just the fact that the Race of Champions is in Saudi Arabia, it’s the fact that the event itself has probably been declining over the last few years. It’s changed dates over the last few years, it’s been experimented with new challenges but most importantly, the quality of the drivers has slowly but surely worsened.

This year’s field is probably one of the worst in the event’s 30 year history. Yes, there are champions but it doesn’t shout out to me. I’m very happy to see rallycross stars Johan Kristoffersson and Petter Solberg as well as the Indycar superstars Juan Pablo Montoya and Helio Castroneves both of whom were at the recent Daytona race.

It’s nice to see the young and the old with F3 champion, Lando Norris and Mr Le Mans, Tom Kristensen. As I’m writing this actually, I’m starting to think that the line-up isn’t actually that bad. As a motorsport fan, you probably couldn’t ask for much more. There’s drivers from a vast group of ages, the best of Indycar and rallycross drivers. What’s missing is an F1 driver and a bit more overall quality. I expect nearly every name on the entry list to have done something relatively big in motorsport terms and I think that’s what’s missing. It kind of contradicts the name of the event to be honest because half of the grid are champions and half isn’t.

But all of what I’ve said so far is opinion, lets look at the facts.

Taking place this Friday and Saturday (2nd and 3rd February) the traditional Nations Cup will take place first followed by the Champions of Champions on Saturday. In the UK, coverage will start at 17:00 on Friday and 13:00 on Saturday both lasting around 3 hours.

The Draw

The draw took place on Tuesday, these are the opening head to heads.

ROC Nations Cup Draw (Friday 2 February)

Group A

Team GERMANY (Timo Bernhard & René Rast)

Team LATIN AMERICA (Juan Pablo Montoya & Helio Castroneves)

Team MEXICO (Memo Rojas & Abraham Calderon)

Team USA (Ryan Hunter-Reay & Josef Newgarden)

Group B

Team NORDIC (Tom Kristensen & Petter Solberg)

Team GREAT BRITAIN (David Coulthard & Lando Norris)

Team SWEDEN (Johan Kristoffersson & Joel Eriksson)

Team SIM RACING ALL STARS (Rudy van Buren & eROC winner)

Group C

Team SAUDI ARABIA (Yazeed Al-Rajhi & ROC Factor Saudi Arabia winner)

Team UAE (Khaled Al Qubaisi & Khalid Al Qassimi)

Team LEBANON (Karl Massaad & Mansour Chebli)

The winners of each group will progress to the semi-finals, along with the leading runner-up from Groups A and B. 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.

Race Of Champions Draw (Saturday 3 February)

Group A

Juan-Pablo MONTOYA (Colombia) ROC Champion of Champions

Helio CASTRONEVES (Brazil) triple Indianapolis 500 winner

Ryan HUNTER-REAY (USA) 2014 Indianapolis 500 winner

Winner of Round 1 between Memo ROJAS and Abraham CALDERON

Group B

Tom KRISTENSEN (Denmark) nine-time Le Mans 24 Hours winner

David COULTHARD (Great Britain) 13-time Formula 1 grand prix winner

Timo BERNHARD (Germany) 2017 Le Mans 24 Hours winner

Winner of Round 1 between Rudy van BUREN and the eROC winner

Group C         

Johan KRISTOFFERSSON (Sweden) 2017 FIA World Rallycross Champion

René RAST (Germany) 2017 DTM Champion

Lando NORRIS (Great Britain) 2017 European F3 Champion

Winner of Round 1 between Joel ERIKSSON and fastest driver from Lebanon in ROC Factor Middle East

Group D         

Josef NEWGARDEN (USA) 2017 IndyCar Champion

Petter SOLBERG (Norway) double FIA World Rallycross Champion

Yazeed AL-RAJHI (Saudi Arabia) WRC2 rally winner

Winner of Round 1 between fastest driver from UAE in ROC Factor Middle East

and ROC Factor Saudi Arabia winner

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.

Riyadh’s 75,000-capacity King Fahd Stadium, will most likely not see a really big, enthusiastic crowd but those who do turn up will hopefully see a good show with some very close finishes. Six very unique cars will be raced by the drivers, these are this year’s.

-The Arial Atom Cup

-The ROC Car

-The Wheelen NASCAR

-The KTM X-Bow

-The VUHL 05 ROC Edition

-The Xtreme Pickup (new for this year)

Indy 500 and Monaco Grand Prix winner Juan Pablo Montoya is ROC’s reigning Champion of Champions after the Colombian claimed his first title in Miami this year and will look to defend his title, while four-time FIA Formula 1 World Champion Sebastian Vettel helped Team Germany win its seventh ROC Nations Cup. He will need long-time Porsche driver, Timo Bernhard and one of the best GT drivers in the world, Rene Rast to keep the title in Germany.

It might not be an all star line-up and it might not be the venue which is associated with motorsport. It will feel different; it will be a change. Sometimes change can be good, sometimes it doesn’t work. One thing for sure is that we will see the same fun, yet serious action when the drivers hit the track.