The Race of Champions has been held since 1988 as a means of pitting drivers from all types of racing against each other in equally prepared cars. This year's Race of Champions, which was held November 21-22 at London's former Olympic Stadium, featured 20 racers, and four-time Formula One champion Sebastian Vettel came out on top.
The racers competed in a bracket format, taking on one opponent at a time to claim the best of three races. Each round featured different cars, as the drivers took turns in the Mercedes-AMG GT-S, Ariel Atom Cup, Radical SR3 RSX, KTM X-Bow, Euro NASCAR, and the specially made ROC Car.
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Vettel defeated two-time World Rallycross champion Petter Solberg in the first round, dispatched F1 driver and 2015 24 Hours of LeMans winner Nico Hulkenberg in the second round, then defeated 13-time F1 winner David Coulthard in the semi-finals. In the other bracket, nine-time LeMans champion Tom Kristensen beat Formula E champion Nelson Piquet, Jr. in the first round, 90-time British Touring Car Championship winner Jason Plato in the second round, and Blancpain Endurance Series champion Alex Buncombe in the semi-finals.
Vettel beat Kristensen two races to none in the finals racing X-Bows. Kristensen, known as "Mr. LeMans," has been to four ROC finals but failed to win it each time. This was Vettel's first ROC championship.
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Other drivers included: 2014 Indy 500 champion Ryan Hunter-Reay; DTM Touring Car driver Susie Wolfe; British jack-of-all-trades driver Bradley Philpot; two-time World Touring Car champion Jose Maria Lopez; five-time Moto GP World champion Mick Doohan; 2015 DTM champion Pascal Wehrlein, three-time World Touring Car champion Andy Priaulx; 2016 Formula One rookie Jolyon Palmer; and Formula One drivers Romain Grossjean, Felipe Massa, Jensen Button, and Daniel Ricciardo.
There is no word yet on the venue for the 2016 Race of Champions or who the drivers will be. Stay tuned for details as they become available next year.
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