Battle of the best
There’s a competition where top drivers from various world motor sports disciplines battle it out, yet few have heard of it.
THERE exists an event, with Michelin as its main promoter, in which the cream of the crop in world motor sports disciplines slug it out. It’s not a newly introduced race but one that was run for the 25th time in mid-December last year. It’s called the Race of Champions (ROC).
Haven’t heard of such a race? That’s because it was organised mainly in Europe since 1988. Michelin first ventured east in 2009, holding the ROC at the Bird’s Nest Olympic Stadium in Beijing. Yes, this motor sports event is held in a sports arena.
A figure-of-eight circuit is actually laid out on the grass surfaces and athletic tracks, with several layers of asphalt being applied on an underlying wooden base.
The entire process is as quickly put together as it is taken apart, with hardly any damage incurred.
There are two parallel tracks with one running over the other at one point. Two drivers start on separate tracks – the combined length is about 1km – and does four laps or 2km and the best time wins.
It first started in Paris with a car rally background as it celebrated the 10th anniversary of the inaugural World Rally Driver’s Championship by gathering the sport’s champions in identical cars.
The event was proposed by the International Media Productions (IMP) president Fredrick Johnsson and Michele Mouton, hailed as the most successful female rally driver of all time.
It was also organised in memory of Henri Toivonen, who died at the Corsica Rally while leading the championship in 1986.
The Henri Toivonen Memorial trophy is awarded to the champion of champions every year.
The recent race was held in Bangkok, Thailand, at the Rajamangala National Stadium, and the star-studded event included triple F1 champion Sebastian Vettel, seven-time F1 champ Michael Schumacher and MotoGP top rider Jorge Lorenzo.
The word “champion” is loosely defined as the Bangkok event also saw the participation of C. Nattavude of Thailand, Narian Karthikeyan of India, Ho-Pin Tung of China and Lotus F1 driver Romain Grosjean of France, among others.
The event was run over three nights, beginning with ROC Thailand and ROC Asia, followed by ROC Nations Cup and the individual Race of Champions on the final night.
Best times aside, the respective driver had to do it in different cars (pick of the draw), starting with the initial round robin format before proceeding to the knockout rounds. In each head-to-head race, the drivers do battle in the same type of car.
Except for the single-seater ROC car, they participated in the other vehicles with a codriver.
The overall weight – car, driver, co-driver - was balanced out between rival teams so that no one gained an advantage.
Michelin earns its place as promoter as it supplied a variety of tyres for the respective range of cars being raced.
The cars included the Toyota GT86, Volkswagen Scirocco, Lamborghini Gallardo Super Trofeo, Audi R8 LMS, Euro Racecar, KTM X-Bow and the specially made motorcycle-powered 1.1-litre single-seater ROC car.
ROC Thailand is an individual round robin event involving four drivers. Super Car Thailand Champion Nattavude came out tops by winning all his three races.
ROC Asia is a four-nation team event with two drivers per country: Thailand, India, China and Japan.
Beginning with a round robin format, India and Japan were the leading two. The final shootout saw India (Narian and Karun Chandok) winning against Japan.
ROC Nations Cup is an international event with eight countries (or regional groupings) in two groups. Group A had France, All-Stars (Denmark-Spain), Americas (US-Mexico), and Great Britain. Group B consists of Germany, Australia, India and Thailand.
Germany – Vettel and Schumacher – proved to be unbeatable, driving a variety of cars against different opponents, from the round robin stage right up to the finals.
They retained the title for the sixth straight year.
However, they didn’t fare as strongly in the individual Race of Champions. With 16 drivers in four groups, both started well to top their respective group at the round robin stage.
Then, Vettle fell in the quarterfinal knockout to eventual winner Grosjean, who went on to upstage Schumacher in the semi-final, before edging out eight-time Le Mans 24 Race winner Tom Kristensen in the final.
The semi-finalists had to go head-to-head in different cars over two timed races, and Grosjean won both.
As for MotoGP 2012 champion Lorenzo, he admitted that he was better off riding a motorcycle than a car.
He lost most of his races, including the shootout with Thai driver Tin Sritrai, an Asian Touring Car Series winner.
His solitary win came from a ‘yellow card’ penalty for his British rival, Andy Priaulx, who hit one of the cones.
More ROC events in Asia are in the offing. Pascal Couasnon, Michelin Racing Division Director, said that with Michelin tyre sales picking up in the region, more Asian ROCs were being planned.