Race of Champions: the Olympics of Motorsport

We attend Race of Champions 2012, a unique gathering of global motorsport stars and champions from different disciplines where they compete "Olympic-style" with identical cars in a purpose-built parallel track to take home the prestige of being the "champion of champions". This year's (2012) event was held at the Rajamangala Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand.

Race of Champions was conceived in 1988 to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the World Rally Drivers Championship (the ultimate race between international rally stars). It was held in Paris also as a memory of Henri Toivonen, who died in the Corsica Rally in 1986 while leading the championship. The Toivonen is still awarded to the winner of the ROC each year. The event was the brainchild of Fredrik Johnsson and female rally driver Michele Mouton.

In its second year, ROC adopted a parallel track format at the Nurburgring, which has been used ever since. It was the first race to ever do so. It soon found its home in the Canary Islands from 1992 to 2003, the event has since moved to some of the world’s most evocative stadiums like the Stade de France in Paris, London’s Wembley Stadium, and the Birds Nest Olympic Stadium in Beijing.

This year's event saw the ace stars drive cars such as the Audi R8 LMS, Lamborghini Gallardo Super Trofeo, VW Scirocco, Toyota GT86, KTM X-Bow, Euro NASCAR, and the ROC Car - head-to-head in Bangkok.

This year's ROC included seven-time F1 champion Michael Schumacher, youngest triple F1 world champion Sebastian Vettel, five-time MotoGP champion Mick Doohan, eight-time LeMans 24-hour race winner Tom Kristensen, V8 Supercars Champion Jamie Whincup, Indycar Series Champion Ryan Hunter-Reay, former F1 driver David Coulthard, WTCC champion Andy Priaulx, WRC Production Champion Benito Guerra, 2012 MotoGP Champion Jorge Lorenzo, Lotus F1 driver Romain Grosjean, and 2011 Champion of Champions rally star Sebastian Ogier.

Asian star drivers such as Ho-Pin Tung, Han Han, Kazuya Ohshima, Takuto Iguchi, F1 driver Narain Karthikeyan, and former F1 driver Karun Chandhok, and local stars Nattavude Charoensukhpawatana and Tin Sritrai also joined in the mix.

In between the competition, organizers lined up special exhibitions like Formula One car demos by Red Bull Racing driven by David Coulthard, stunt driving by Guinness World Record holder Terry Grant, and four-time world stunt riding champion Chris Pfeiffer.

A new ROC Asia Cup was held with Indian drivers Narain Karthikeyan and Karun Chandhok bagging the win. The Indian duo joined forces for the very first time in their ROC debut appearance. They topped the group eliminations with four wins out of six, making them the favorites in the finals.

The Indian drivers faced off with the Japanese drivers Ohshima and Iguchi in the finals. Both Karthikeyan and Chandhok bested their Chinese rivals to take the title. Team India gained the right to represent Asia in the ROC Nations Cup along with the host country Thailand, which automatically qualified.

During the main event, it was a race for national pride in the Nations Cup. German drivers Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel added another title to their already successful racing careers as they won their sixth straight ROC Nations Cup in Bangkok, Thailand. The Germans competed with seven other teams making a clean sweep including a final showdown with French drivers Romain Grosjean and Sebastian Ogier.

The main event of the ROC is about finding the champion of champions. Fresh from his runner-up finish in the Nations Cup the night before, French Formula 1 driver Romain Grosjean bested 15 other motorsport stars including F1 superstars Michael Schumacher, Sebastian Vettel, and David Coulthard; Le Mans legend Tom Kristensen; and 2011 titleholder and fellow Frenchman Sebastian Ogier in the 2012 Race of Champions. Grosjean was crowned Champion of Champions after an evening of thrills at the Rajamangala National Stadium in Bangkok.

The Race of Champions is a one-of-a-kind experience that puts together the world's motorsport stars competing against each other in a weekend of events. Luckily for us in the far east, the event has made its way to Asia. It made its Asian debut in 2009 at the Bird's Nest Olympic Stadium in Beijing, China, and makes its ASEAN debut in Bangkok this year. Notable guests at this year's ROC included Lamborghini President and CEO Stephan Winkelmann. The event organizers are also looking to hold more events in Asia. Who knows, we just might be able to host one in the Philippines in the near future.