The 2009 Race of Champions was the 22nd running of the motorsport event, on November 3–4, 2009 at the Beijing National Stadium in Beijing, China. It was the first time that the event took place outside of Europe and Africa. It was the first international sports event to be held in the "Bird's Nest" stadium since the 2008 Summer Olympics. The event was moved from a weekend to a midweek slot for the first time. The RoC Nations Cup was held on Tuesday, November 3, just two days after the 2009 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the climax of the 2009 Formula One season at the Yas Marina Circuit, with the Driver's Cup being contested on Wednesday 4, November.
The new dates affected the United States and Australia most, since it meant drivers from those countries' popular saloon-car series (V8 Supercar and NASCAR Sprint Cup Series) could not take part. Jamie Whincup of Triple Eight Race Engineering was originally selected to participate but could not because of the schedule, so two motorcyclists were used on the team. In the past, the United States team has used Nationwide Series champion Carl Edwards, and four-time Sprint Cup Series champion Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson. Two X Games stars and Rally America drivers were chosen.
Mattias Ekström won the World Final for Team Scandinavia, while Sebastian Vettel and Michael Schumacher won the Nations Cup for Team Germany.
South Europe Regional Final
For the first ever time, regional finals were held to determine which nations will take part in Beijing. The first of these regional finals was for South Europe, featuring Portugal, Spain, Monaco and Italy. It was held in the Estádio do Dragão, the home of F.C. Porto on 6/7 June.
ROC Portugal Miguel Barbosa won the ROC Portugal opener and was joined by A1 Grand Prix driver Filipe Albuquerque, José Pedro Fontes and team captain and Production World Rally Championship Armindo Araújo in the Portuguese team.
ROC Iberia The Portuguese team faced a Spanish team made up of team captain World Rally Champion Carlos Sainz, Citroën WRC driver Dani Sordo, World Series by Renault driver Jaime Alguersuari and rally driver Sergio Vallejo in the ROC Iberia. Albuquerque beat Sordo by two heats to nil in the Iberian final.
ROC South Europe Finals
The Spanish pairing of Sainz and Sordo faced the Italian pairing of former World Rally champion Miki Biasion and current WRC driver Gigi Galli in the first semi-final. Spain won by three heats to nil. The Portuguese pairing of Albuquerque and Araujo faced Monaco, featuring A1GP driver Clivio Piccione and Le Mans 24 Hours winner Emanuele Pirro, who although born in Italy, has been a resident of Monaco for over 22 years. After four of five heats the score was balanced at 2–2, before Piccione beat Albuquerque by one ten thousandth of a second, the narrowest margin of victory in Race of Champions history. The Monegasque pairing beat the Spanish pair by three heats to one in the final to send Monaco through to the main event in November.
ROC Legends There was also a RoC Legends competition on the Saturday evening, featuring Sainz, Biasion, Pirro, Johnny Herbert, Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Mick Doohan, Andy Priaulx and Pedro Chaves. Priaulx beat Herbert in the Legends final by two heats to one.
Participants Team Drivers 2009 series All-Stars David Coulthard none Giniel de Villiers Cross Country World Cup Australia Mick Doohan none Chad Reed AMA Motocross Championship China Han Han Chinese Rally Championship Ho-Pin Tung A1 Grand Prix & Superleague Formula Finland Marcus Grönholm none Mikko Hirvonen WRC France Guerlain Chicherit Cross Country World Cup Yvan Muller WTCC Germany Michael Schumacher none/Formula One testing Sebastian Vettel Formula One Great Britain Jenson Button Formula One Andy Priaulx WTCC Monaco Clivio Piccione A1 Grand Prix Emanuele Pirro none Scandinavia Mattias Ekström DTM Tom Kristensen DTM United States Tanner Foust X Games & Rally America Travis Pastrana X Games & Rally America
Jamie Whincup originally was confirmed to participate, but later withdrew due to a scheduling conflict with the V8 Supercars Championship. Chad Reed took his place. The two fastest Chinese drivers in the ROC China Challenge would represent their nation in the Nations Cup.
Cars Ford Focus RS WRC KTM X-Bow ROC Car RX Racing RX150 Solution F Prototype Volkswagen Scirocco
ROC China
ROC Nations Cup
Group A Pos Team Races W L Best Time 1 6 6 0 3:55.963 2 6 3 3 4:04.314 3 6 2 4 4:00.151 4 6 1 5 4:04.386
Team 1 Time 1 Score Team 2 Time 2 Car Germany 2–0 Australia Michael Schumacher 2:00.012 Mick Doohan 2:28.424 Sebastian Vettel 1:59.381 Chad Reed 2:05.807 Germany 2–0 China Michael Schumacher 2:03.192 Han Han DNF Sebastian Vettel 1:55.951 Ho-Pin Tung 1:58.345 Germany 2–0 Finland Michael Schumacher 2:00.636 Mikko Hirvonen 2:01.243 Sebastian Vettel 1:56.085 Marcus Grönholm 2:01.587
Team 1 Time 1 Score Team 2 Time 2 Car China 2–0 Australia Han Han 2:14.570 Mick Doohan 2:48.088 Ho-Pin Tung 1:58.537 Chad Reed 2:01.505 Finland 1–1 Australia Mikko Hirvonen 2:00.264 Mick Doohan 2:05.545 Marcus Grönholm 1:59.787 Chad Reed 1:58.841 China 1–1 Finland Han Han 2:05.969 Mikko Hirvonen 2:05.819 Ho-Pin Tung 2:04.234 Marcus Grönholm 2:05.180
Group B Pos Team Races W L Best Time 1 Great Britain 4 4 0 3:55.111 2 All-Stars 4 1 3 3:58.339 3 4 1 3 3:58.882
Team 1 Time 1 Score Team 2 Time 2 Car Great Britain 2–0 All-Stars Jenson Button 2:00.394 David Coulthard 2:00.964 Andy Priaulx 1:58.399 Giniel de Villiers 2:02.927 Great Britain 2–0 Monaco Jenson Button 1:59.109 Clivio Piccione 2:01.408 Andy Priaulx 1:56.002 Emanuele Pirro 1:57.466 Monaco 1–1 All-Stars Clivio Piccione 2:01.416 David Coulthard 1:58.824 Emanuele Pirro 1:58.607 Giniel de Villiers 1:59.515
Group C Pos Team Races W L Best Time 1 4 2 2 4:09.184 2 4 2 2 4:09.208 3 Scandinavia 4 2 2 4:10.252
Team 1 Time 1 Score Team 2 Time 2 Car France 1–1 Scandinavia Yvan Muller 2:00.635 Tom Kristensen DNF Guerlain Chicherit DNF Mattias Ekström 2:13.070 Scandinavia 1–1 United States Tom Kristensen 2:05.039 Tanner Foust 2:03.692 Mattias Ekström 2:05.213 Travis Pastrana 2:05.776 United States 1–1 France Tanner Foust 2:03.408 Yvan Muller 2:03.104 Travis Pastrana 2:06.738 Guerlain Chicherit 2:08.573 ROC Car
Knockout stages
Semifinals Team 1 Time 1 Score Team 2 Time 2 Car Germany 2–1 United States Michael Schumacher 2:03.615 Tanner Foust 2:03.281 ROC Car Sebastian Vettel 1:55.212 Travis Pastrana 1:55.582 Ford Focus RS WRC Sebastian Vettel 2:03.167 Tanner Foust 2:04.084 ROC Car China 1–2 Great Britain Han Han 2:06.654 Jenson Button 2:03.201 ROC Car Ho-Pin Tung 1:57.890 Andy Priaulx 2:01.565 Solution F Prototype Ho-Pin Tung 2:04.477 Jenson Button 2:01.544 ROC Car
Final Team 1 Time 1 Score Team 2 Time 2 Car Germany 2–1 Great Britain Michael Schumacher 1:59.348 Jenson Button 1:59.842 ROC Car Sebastian Vettel 2:13.299 Andy Priaulx 1:52.479 Ford Focus RS WRC Michael Schumacher 2:01.200 Andy Priaulx 2:02.364 ROC Car
World Final
Round 1
Group A Pos Team Races W L Best Time 1 Jenson Button 3 3 0 1:57.627 2 Tom Kristensen 3 2 1 1:58.305 3 Tanner Foust 3 1 2 1:57.677 4 Guerlain Chicherit 3 0 3 2:03.938
Driver 1 Time 1 Car Driver 2 Time 2 Jenson Button 2:00.085 Tom Kristensen 2:01.381 Guerlain Chicherit 2:04.486 Tanner Foust 2:00.578 Tanner Foust 1:57.677 Solution F Prototype Jenson Button 1:57.627 Tom Kristensen 1:58.305 Guerlain Chicherit DNF Guerlain Chicherit 2:03.938 KTM X-Bow Jenson Button 1:59.174 Tanner Foust 2:04.512 KTM X-Bow Tom Kristensen 1:59.136
Group B Pos Team Races W L Best Time 1 Mattias Ekström 3 3 0 1:58.276 2 Andy Priaulx 3 2 1 1:59.860 3 Mick Doohan 3 1 2 2:04.325 4 Travis Pastrana 3 0 3 2:04.208
Driver 1 Time 1 Car Driver 2 Time 2 Mattias Ekström 1:58.551 Andy Priaulx 1:59.860 Mick Doohan 2:04.325 Travis Pastrana 2:04.402 Travis Pastrana 2:04.208 Mattias Ekström 2:02.174 Andy Priaulx 2:04.801 Mick Doohan 2:05.229 Mick Doohan DNF KTM X-Bow Mattias Ekström 1:58.276 Travis Pastrana DNF KTM X-Bow Andy Priaulx 2:00.043
Group C Pos Team Races W L Best Time 1 Sebastian Vettel 3 3 0 1:51.442 2 Mikko Hirvonen 3 2 1 1:51.094 3 Chad Reed 3 1 2 1:54.247 4 Giniel de Villiers 3 0 3 1:53.626
Driver 1 Time 1 Car Driver 2 Time 2 Sebastian Vettel 2:00.363 Mikko Hirvonen 2:02.567 Chad Reed 2:02.391 ROC Car Giniel de Villiers 2:04.247 Giniel de Villiers 1:53.626 Ford Focus RS WRC Sebastian Vettel 1:51.442 Mikko Hirvonen 1:51.094 Ford Focus RS WRC Chad Reed 1:54.247 Chad Reed DNF Sebastian Vettel 1:58.583 Giniel de Villiers 2:04.437 Mikko Hirvonen 2:01.859
Group D Pos Team Races W L Best Time 1 Michael Schumacher 3 3 0 1:58.644 2 David Coulthard 3 2 1 1:58.547 3 Yvan Muller 3 1 2 1:58.956 4 Marcus Grönholm 3 0 3 2:00.835
Driver 1 Time 1 Car Driver 2 Time 2 Michael Schumacher 1:58.644 David Coulthard 2:00.503 Marcus Grönholm 2:01.456 Yvan Muller 2:00.191 Yvan Muller 2:01.474 Michael Schumacher 1:59.296 David Coulthard 2:00.259 Marcus Grönholm 2:00.835 Marcus Grönholm 2:02.111 KTM X-Bow Michael Schumacher 1:59.907 Yvan Muller 1:58.956 KTM X-Bow David Coulthard 1:58.547
Knockout stages
Final Driver 1 Time 1 Car Driver 2 Time 2 Mattias Ekström 1:57.290 ROC Car Michael Schumacher 1:57.471 Mattias Ekström 1:56.044 KTM X-Bow Michael Schumacher 1:56.657
References
External links