The battle lines have been drawn for the opening rounds of the ROC Nations Cup and the Race Of Champions contests at Sydney’s Accor Stadium on Friday and Saturday nights
The 33rd edition of Race Of Champions (ROC) World in Sydney will include superstars from F1, World Rallying, Supercars, Rallycross, NASCAR, Extreme E and Dakar
Accor Stadium to be turned into a spectacular side-by-side 1km asphalt race track when this unique event is hosted for the first time in the Southern Hemisphere
Tickets from $49 on sale now through Ticketek
The foundation for this week’s Race Of Champions has been laid after the official draw was made at Sydney’s Accor Stadium today, by ROC’s Jessie Johnsson and Venues NSW Group General Manager, Stephen Saunders.
The draw came just hours after it was confirmed that Supercars ace Chaz Mostert and British Rally ace Alister McRae were late inclusions into the field.
First round draws were made for both Friday Night’s ROC Nations Cup and Saturday’s individual competition for the ‘Champion of Champions’ Crown.
DRAW FOR ROC NATIONS CUP
Group A: Team Finland, Team All Stars, Team France
Group B: Team Australia Supercars, Team New Zealand, Team Australia Off-road
Group C: Team Germany, Team USA, Team Great Britain
The defending ROC Nations Cup Title Holders, Team Norway of Petter and Oliver Solberg are seeded and receive an automatic spot in the first quarter-final.
Mostert will now join Sweden’s seven-time Rallycross World Champion Johan Kristoffersson in a Team All Stars combination for Friday night’s ROC Nations Cup and has Drawn in Group A which also includes Team Finland (Valtteri Bottas and Heikki Kovalainen) and Team France (Sebastien Loeb and Victor Martins)
Alister McRae will be a direct replacement for his son Max for Team Great Britain and partner with former F1 star David Coulthard in Group C, which also includes the high-profile German team of Sebastian Vettel and Mick Schumacher, as well as Team USA with Travis Pastrana and NASCAR Champion Kurt Busch.
Group B will see the great Trans Tasman rivalry between Australia and New Zealand continue with both local teams and the Kiwi team battling it out.
As host nation, Australia will be represented by two teams. The first will be Team Australia Supercars headed by Jamie Whincup and Will Brown, while Team Australia Off-Road will comprise Extreme e and Australian Rally Champion Molly Taylor and two-time Dakar winner, Toby Price.
The New Zealand flag will be flown by rally star Hayden Paddon and teenage open-wheel star Louis Sharp.
Team Norway of Petter and Oliver Solberg will receive a first-round bye and receive an automatic spot in the first quarter final as defending ROC Nations Cup champions.
THE RACE OF CHAMPIONS
OFF-ROAD
Group A; Johan Kristoffersson (SWE), Molly Taylor (AUS), eROC winner
Group B: Travis Pastrana (USA), Heikki Kovalainen (FIN), Oliver Solberg (SWE)
Group C: Petter Solberg (NOR), Toby Price (AUS), Hayden Paddon (NZ)
4-time ROC Champion Sebastien Loeb is seeded and receive an automatic spot in the quarter-finals.
CIRCUIT RACING
Group D: Sebastian Vettel (GER), Jamie Whincup (AUS), Louis Sharp (NZ)
Group E: Valtteri Bottas (FIN), Kurt Busch (USA), Chaz Mostert (AUS)
Group F: Will Brown (AUS), David Coulthard (UK), Victor Martins (FRA)
Mick Schumacher, winner of the Racing Group at ROC Sweden, is seeded and receive an automatic spot in the quarter-finals.
The Race Of Champions draw has been split in half , just like at ROC Sweden, with Off-road and Rally competitors making up the top half of the draw (Groups A-B-C) and circuit racers the bottom half (Groups (D-E-F).
Nine-time World Rally Champion Sebastien Loeb has drawn a first-round bye and progresses to the quarter finals, as does Mick Schumacher in the bottom half of the field.
The “wildcard” entry will be the eRacem of Champions (eROC) Champion, which will be decided after a shootout both in the simulators and real race cars on the ROC Track at Accor Stadium. The eROC Champion will take Alister McRae’s place in the Race Of Champions and will be slotted into Group A for an initial battle with Kristoffersson and Australia’s own rally ace Molly Taylor, who will be hoping for success on International Women’s Day.
The 20 invited international drivers will represent their respective countries/team in the ROC Nations Cup on Friday to battle for the Title the “world’s Fastest Nation” and then go head-to-head for the Race Of Champions individual “Champion of Champions” Crown Saturday night on the spectacular side-by-side 1km asphalt track which is currently in the finishing stages of a seven-day 24/7 construction.
The 20 drivers will battle it out in a range of six different vehicles including the FC2 Rallycross, Supercar Lite Rallycross, KTM X-Bow Comp R, Polaris RZR Pro R, Subaru BRZ tS and Toyota GR86 Cup machines.
Every heat is a head-to-head duel in two identical cars on the spectacular ROC Parallel asphalt track, so only the driver's skill determines the winners. Heats are often decided by just a fraction of a second, so timekeeping will be to 1/10,000s of a second.
The Race Of Champions comes one week before the opening round of the F1 World Championship in Melbourne (March 13-16), creating a massive two weeks of motorsport in Australia.
What Fredrik Johnsson, Race Of Champions President and Co-Founder, said:
“No matter how the names come out in the official draw, you are always going to end up with some fascinating match-ups,” said Johnsson.
“We certainly have a very talented and eclectic field of drivers who all have an amazing amount of skill, which they will showcase to the Australian fans in Accor Stadium on Friday and Saturday night.”
“The mix of different vehicles and the brand new track design with freshly-laid asphalt surface
will be a very interesting test of the driving skills of these great Champions.
“Everyone will have the same amount of practice so it’s down to the drivers who can adapt the quickest to the new conditions and then drive with enough confidence to be almost at the limit without making mistakes and crashing.”
2025 ROC NATIONS CUP - FINAL TEAMS LINE-UP
Group A:
Team Finland
Valtteri Bottas (FIN) - 10-time Formula 1 Grand Prix Winner
Heikki Kovalainen (FIN) - Formula 1 Grand Prix Winner and 2004 ROC Champion
Team All Stars
Johan Kristoffersson (SWE) - 7-time FIA World Rallycross Champion, Extreme e Champion
Chaz Mostert (AUS) - 2-time Bathurst 1000 winner, class winner Spa 24-Hour, Daytona 24-hour.
Team France
Sebastien Loeb (FRA) - 9-time Rally World Champion, 4-time ROC Champion
Victor Martins (FRA) - 2022 F3 Champion, 2020 F Renault Champion. ART F2 Driver 2025.
Group B:
Team Australia Supercars
Jamie Whincup (AUS) 7-time Supercars Champion
Will Brown (AUS) - 2024 Supercars Champion (AUS)
Team New Zealand
Hayden Paddon (NZ) - 2023 & 2024 European Rally Champion, seven-time NZ Rally Champion
Louis Sharp (NZ) - 2024 GB3 Champion, 2023 British F4 Champion
Team Australia Off-Road
Molly Taylor (AUS) - Australian Rally Champion & 2021 and 2024 Extreme E Champion
Toby Price (AUS) - 2 X Dakar winner on Bikes, 2024 Baja 500 winner in Truck
Group C:
Team Germany
Sebastian Vettel (GER) - 4-time Formula 1 World Champion
Mick Schumacher (GER) - FIA F2 and F3 Champion, Former F1 driver. Current WEC Driver
Team USA
Travis Pastrana (USA) - 11-time X-Games Gold Medalist, 6-time Rally America Champion, Nitrocross Champion
Kurt Busch (USA) - 2004 NASCAR Champion, 2017 Daytona 500 winner
Team Great Britain
David Coulthard (UK) - 13-time Formula 1 Grand Prix Winner, 2014 & 2018 ROC Champion
Alister McRae (UK) - British Rally Champion, FIA Asia Pacific Rally Champion
Seeded Quarter-Finals:
Team Norway (Defending ROC Nations Cup Champions)
Petter Solberg (NOR) - Rally World Champion and 2-time Rallycross World Champion
Oliver Solberg (NOR / SWE)* - 2024 WRC2 runner-up, Winner 2025 WRC2 Rally Sweden
* Oliver will represent Norway in ROC Nations Cup / Sweden in Race Of Champions
ROC SYDNEY 2025
The ROC Nations Cup takes place on Friday March 7, with drivers paired in teams based on nationality to bid for the title of ‘World’s Fastest Nation’.
The Saturday night (March 8) will see the individual Race Of Champions, when all teamwork goes out of the window and it will be a battle for individual glory and the ‘Champion of Champions’ title.
ROC is renowned for gathering some of the best drivers in the world, including superstars from Formula 1, Le Mans, Nascar, Supercars, World Rally and Rallycross.
Hospitality and Track side packages and General Admission Tickets starting from $49.00 for children and $69.00 for adults. Tickets are on sale now through Ticketek.
EVENT SCHEDULE
Friday 7th March – ROC Nations Cup – to crown the world's fastest Nation Accor Stadium, Sydney
● Doors Open 5:30pm
● Show Starts 6:30pm
● Race Starts 7:30pm
Saturday 8th March – Race Of Champions – to crown the "Champion of Champions" Accor Stadium, Sydney
● Doors open 5:30pm
● Show Starts 6:30pm
● Race Starts 7.30pm