Audi to walk LM 2012

http://www.topgear.com/uk/photos/peugeot-leaves-le-mans-2011-01-19

RoC - The Draw !

The draw took place earlier today for the pairings for this weekend's racefest.  The drivers are split into groups of four for a round-robin first stage, then going head to head for two-lap races on a parallel track for the right to participate in the knockout stages.

The draw has set up some pretty good duels, with Schumacher lined up to battle with fellow F1 world champion Jenson Button – along with X-Games star Brian Deegan and rally ace Jan Kopecký.  Vettel faces another tough group with Le Mans legend Tom Kristensen, fellow F1 driver Vitaly Petrov and GP2 champion Romain Grosjean.

Race Of Champions (Sunday December 4)

Group A

• Filipe ALBUQUERQUE, DTM star and reigning ROC Champion of Champions
• Andy PRIAULX, three-time World Touring Car Champion
• David COULTHARD, winner of 13 Formula 1 grands prix
• Travis PASTRANA, four-time Rally America winner and X-Games legend 

Group B

• Mattias EKSTROM, DTM star and triple ROC Champion of Champions
• Martin TOMCZYK, 2011 DTM Champion
• Jan KOPECKÝ, three-time Intercontinental Rally Challenge runner-up
• Sébastien OGIER, winner of five WRC rallies in 2011 

Group C

• Michael SCHUMACHER, seven-time Formula 1 World Champion
• Jenson BUTTON, 2009 Formula 1 World Champion
• Brian DEEGAN, 13 X-games medals including Rally Cross gold in 2011
• Juho HÄNNINEN, 2011 S-WRC champion and 2010 IRC champion

Group D

• Sebastian VETTEL, 2010 and 2011 Formula 1 World Champion
• Tom KRISTENSEN, eight-time Le Mans 24-Hour race winner
• Vitaly PETROV, Formula 1 driver for Lotus Renault GP
• Romain GROSJEAN, 2011 GP2 Series Champion

The action begins on Saturday evening with the ROC Nations Cup, when Schumacher and Vettel aim for an  fifth consecutive title together for Team Germany.  The German pair will again go up against Button and triple World Touring Car Champion Andy Priaulx as they have been drawn against Team GB, the runners-up for the past two years.

ROC Nations Cup (Saturday December 3)

Group A

• Team France (Sébastien OGIER & Romain GROSJEAN)
• Team Nordic (Tom KRISTENSEN & Juho HÄNNINEN)
• Team USA (Travis PASTRANA & Brian DEEGAN)
• SAT1 Team Germany 2 (Timo GLOCK & Timo SCHEIDER)

Group B

• Team Germany (Michael SCHUMACHER & Sebastian VETTEL)
• Team Slavic (Vitaly PETROV & Jan KOPECKÝ)
• Team Great Britain (Jenson BUTTON & Andy PRIAULX)
• Team All Stars (David COULTHARD & Filipe ALBUQUERQUE)

Speaking after the draw, Frentzen said: “Taking a look at the groups I have to say the crowds will definitely see several very interesting duels: F1 stars against rally aces, DTM drivers against sportscar stars. It couldn’t have worked out much better so the spectators can already look forward to a lot of thrilling race action.”

Frentzen will himself take part in a special ROC Legends Cup race on Sunday alongside fellow German F1 veteran Hans-Joachim Stuck plus former European rally champion Marc Duez and 1984 world rally champion Stig Blomqvist. Swedish legend Blomqvist is a replacement for F1’s Jos Verstappen, who was forced to pull out due to a late clash of commitments.

As well as a stellar driver line-up, the Race Of Champions features an impressive array of vehicles including the powerful Audi R8 LMS, VW Scirocco and Skoda Fabia Super 2000 rally car. They will run alongside ROC favourites such as the ROC car, KTM X-Bow, World Touring Racecar and the RX150 buggy.

There is a full programme of entertainment featuring the Red Bull FMX show, Chris Pfeiffer Streetbike Freestyle Rider and stunt driver Terry Grant’s world record attempt for driving on two wheels. Newly-signed Volkswagen World Rally Championship driver Sébastien Ogier will also do a demonstration run in the all-new VW Polo WRC car.

Brundle Joins Sky for 2012

Only a matter of time in reality but it has been announced today that Martin Brundle has moved over to Sky for the F1 coverage from 2012. So, if you are already a Sky Sports subscriber or, rather more interestingly, an HD subscriber you will get the F1 HD channel.  As I don't subscribe to Sports but do have HD I believe I will get it as part of the package - so not too bad a deal after all as I was expecting to have to subscribe to the full Sports package to continue to watch it.

Clearly the BBC coverage will start to die from the minute the 2012 season kicks off but that was inevitable anyway.  Wonder whether Jake and Co will make the switch too ?

Brundle has now got an even busier and more challenging 2012 as he also announced earlier in the week that he would be making a return to Le Mans in 2012 too (sadly only in the LMP2 class) with his son Alex in a Greaves Zytek-Nissan.

ROC is brought to you in association with,,,,,

...a fella with a plastic hand and….the VW Group.

Car line-up for the 2011 ROC

Audi R8 LMS

Skoda Fabia Super 2000 (new)

VW Scirocco Cup

KTM X-Bow, ROC car

RX-150 and World Touring Racecar.

ROC 2011 - Entertainment

As lifted from the facebook group, with a little editing.

- Spectacular Red Bull FMX show
- Lotus Renault Formula 1 two-seater demo runs
- Audi Quattro S1 with 1984 world rally champion Stig Blomqvist
- Exclusive show run of the all-new VW Polo WRC car
- Terry Grant's world record attempt driving on two wheels in his Nissan (I hope he dies)
- Chris Pfeiffer's Streetbike Freestyle stunts