2009 Race of Champions

The Beijing National Stadium, the venue for the 2009 Race of Champions.

The 2009 Race of Champions was the 22nd running of the event, and took place 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. It was also the first international sports event to be held in the "Bird's Nest" stadium since the 2008 Summer Olympics.

The event also moved from a weekend to a midweek slot for the first time. The RoC Nations Cup took place on Tuesday, November 3, just two days after the climax of the 2009 Formula One season in Abu Dhabi at the Yas Marina Circuit, with the Driver's Cup being contested on Wednesday 4, November.^[1]

The new dates affected the United States and Australia the worst, since it meant drivers from those countries' popular saloon-car series (V8 Supercar and NASCAR Sprint Cup Series) could not participate in the event. Jamie Whincup of Team Vodafone 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

Michèle Mouton driving an Audi Quattro S1 during the South Europe finals

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.^[2]

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.^[3]

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

Round 1

Quarter-Finals

Semi-Finals

Final

H. Han

2:23.923

Y. Zhou

DNF

H. Han

2:10.148

Z. G. Ren

2:11.272

Z. G. Ren

2:09.466

C. H. Huang

2:10.420

H. Han

2:07.639

Y. Liu

2:08.598

Y. Liu

2:07.540

L. F. Lin

2:09.921

Y. Liu

2:07.809

D. A. Chen

2:08.482

D. A. Chen

2:08.246

H. S. Guo

2:10.914

H. Han

2:07.311

H. B. Dong

2:05.181

H. J. Wei

2:10.355

H. B. Dong

2:06.955

H. B. Dong

2:09.551

C. D. Liu

2:11.409

R. Wang

2:10.579

C. D. Liu

2:08.815

H. B. Dong

2:32.583

S. F. Wang

DNF

B. Liu

2:07.976

D. J. Wu

2:10.044

B. Liu

2:06.635

S. F. Wang

2:06.097

S. F. Wang

2:06.304

N. J. Lu

2:13.080

ROC Nations Cup

Group A

Pos	Team	Races	W	L	Best Time
1	Germany	6	6	0	3:55.963
2	China	6	3	3	4:04.314
3	Finland	6	2	4	4:00.151
4	Australia	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	Monaco	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	United States	4	2	2	4:09.184
2	France	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

	Semi-Finals					Final
	A1	Germany	2
	C1	United States	1
						A1	Germany	2
						B1	Great Britain	1
	A2	China	1
	B1	Great Britain	2

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

	Semi-finals				Final
	Clivio Piccione	1:59.759
	Ho-Pin Tung	2:03.870
					Clivio Piccione	2:04.098
					Tanner Foust	2:01.233
	Tanner Foust	2:02.205
	Emanuele Pirro	2:18.797

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

	Quarter-finals				Semi-finals				Final
	Ford Focus RS WRC
	Jenson Button	1:51.375
					Ford Focus RS WRC
	Andy Priaulx	1:55.500
					Jenson Button	1:50.627
	Solution F Prototype
					Mattias Ekström	1:49.500
	Mattias Ekström	1:56.530
	Tom Kristensen	1:57.814
									Mattias Ekström	2
	ROC Car
									Michael Schumacher	0
	Sebastian Vettel	1:58.213
					KTM X-Bow
	David Coulthard	1:58.930
					Sebastian Vettel	DNF
	KTM X-Bow
					Michael Schumacher	1:57.940
	Michael Schumacher	1:57.805
	Mikko Hirvonen	1:59.786

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