Australia will make its debut hosting the historic Race of Champions in 2025 as the motorsport event will head to Sydney’s Accor Stadium.
Accor Stadium is mostly known for holding the 2000 Summer Olympic Games and it will host the Race of Champions on the 7-8 March - just a week before Melbourne opens the 2025 Formula 1 season.
Drivers will battle on a purpose-built asphalt track, after two years of competing on snow and ice at Pite Havsbad in Sweden in 2022 and 2023.
There were plans to visit the Scandinavian country again in 2024, but it was scrapped due to uncertainties over how the land by the beach and sea can be used.
So Race of Champions will return in 2025 with Australia becoming its 17th different host - but what exactly is the famous event?
What is the Race of Champions?
Race of Champions is a global event that pitches the top talents from several motorsport disciplines in head-to-head nation versus nation and individual battles.
The nation versus nation event is scheduled for day one in 2025 and entails teams of two drivers, who are competing for their country in a group and knockout format. It consists of short races around a course, each driver competes against another from the opposing team over a best of three.
The individual tournament is scheduled for day two and the winner is dubbed the ‘Champion of Champions’. This is a straight knockout tournament split into two halves. In 2023, for example, one consisted of international racing drivers while the other was rallying experts or those more experienced with snowy conditions.
Race of Champions is therefore the only competition that has stars of F1, the World Rally Championship, IndyCar, NASCAR, sports cars and touring cars all competing against each other.
Which cars are used at the Race of Champions?
Drivers compete in identical cars for the Race of Champions, which vary from year-to-year.
For the 2007 edition at Wembley Stadium, for example, drivers tackled the asphalt track with either an Abarth Grande Punto S2000, Aston Martin Vantage N24, Ford Focus RS WRC, an ROC buggy or Solution F Prototype.
A variety of cars are used throughout the event and they must be tailor-made to the surface as well. That’s because the cars used in London wouldn’t be suitable for the recent competitions in snowy Sweden.
When the Race of Champions visited Pite Havsbad in 2022, drivers were given an FIA RX2e, Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport and the off-road Polaris RZR. It is not yet known which cars will be used at the Race of Champions in Sydney.
Who has hosted the Race of Champions?
Race of Champions began in 1988, where France’s Autodrome de Linas-Montlhery was its inaugural host.
It was held to mark the 10th anniversary of the world championship for rally drivers, while honouring Henri Toivonen who died at the 1986 Tour de Corse.
The competition was exclusive to rally drivers at first and the eventual four-time WRC champion Juha Kankkunen won the opening edition. This exclusiveness continued in the forthcoming years - the Nurburgring, Barcelona, Madrid and Gran Canaria all played host - but in 1999 it expanded to include competitors from other motorsport disciplines.
This coincided with the introduction of the ROC Nations Cup, which was first won by Finland on Gran Canaria’s gravel course. The Spanish island’s 12-year stint of hosting ended in 2004 though, as the competition headed to the Stade de France with its all-tarmac surface.
It was in Paris for three years before moving to Wembley in 2007, where Germany began its six-year domination of the ROC Nations Cup thanks to superstar pairing Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel.
The two F1 world champions lifted the cup in London (2007-08), Beijing (2009), Dusseldorf (2010-11) and Bangkok (2012), but the Race of Champions took a hiatus in 2013 due to political unrest in Thailand.
It returned in 2014 with Bushy Park Circuit in Barbados as its host, before heading to London’s Olympic Stadium the following year.
Another sabbatical came in 2016 though, as the event moved to the start of each year because until then it was held in November or December.
Miami, Riyadh and Mexico City have all since hosted as the event has grown in stature, but 2020 offered an unusual challenge thanks to COVID-19.
It was held online via sim racing platform Assetto Corsa, where drivers all tackled recreations of the Gran Canaria, Riyadh and London Stadium tracks.
The pandemic caused another sabbatical in 2021, before the Race of Champions returned in 2022 for its first snow event.
Said conditions favoured the rally drivers, as Sebastien Loeb first won in Sweden before DTM and World Rallycross Championship champion Mattias Ekstrom claimed victory in his home country the following year.
The ROC Nations Cup, meanwhile, was won by Norway both times with its father-son rallying duo of Petter and Oliver Solberg.
Who is competing at the 2025 Race of Champions?
The full line-up for Race of Champions in 2025 is yet to be revealed, however it is known that seven-time Supercars champion Jamie Whincup is set to participate.
This will be the third time the Australian has competed, making his debut in 2012 before reaching the semi-final in 2014. Whincup is so far the only driver confirmed, but the competition should attract a line-up full of stars as it often does.
In 2023, for example, 1998-99 F1 world champion Mika Hakkinen joined Vettel among those decorated with motorsport's highest honour by partnering current grand prix racer Valtteri Bottas at Team Finland.
Coulthard and Jamie Chadwick competed for the United Kingdom, while Ekstrom was team-mates with six-time World RX champion Johan Kristoffersson for Sweden.
Previous years have also seen North American stars Jimmie Johnson and Josef Newgarden partake, while other F1 drivers to have competed include Pierre Gasly, Jenson Button and Daniel Ricciardo.
When can I buy tickets for the 2025 Race of Champions?
It is possible to purchase tickets for the 2025 Race of Champions from Wednesday 16 October via the competition’s website, where one can also currently sign up for pre-sale.
For the event itself, gates will open at 5:30pm local time which is one hour before the show starts. A drivers presentation will follow at 7:15pm, 15 minutes before the ROC Nations Cup or individual competition commences depending on the day. Both days are then due to finish at 10:30pm.
Memorable moments at the Race of Champions
The Race of Champions has no doubt produced some very memorable moments during its 36-year history - here are five.
Colin McRae finally wins the Race of Champions in 1998
The late, great Colin McRae was a regular at the Race of Champions in the 1990s having finished runner-up in 1992, 1995 and 1997. But in 1998, he finally went one better where the final featured a brotherly showdown between Colin and younger sibling Alister.
Colin won 2-1 after defeating Miki Biasion and Didier Auriol on his route to the final in Gran Canaria to take his only victory at the Race of Champions. The 1995 WRC champion made three more appearances before his sudden death in 2007, the year Race of Champions made an emotional tribute to Colin which included placing his championship-winning Subaru Impreza 555 on display.
China becomes the first non-European host of Race of Champions in 2009
When China became the first non-European host of the Race of Champions in 2009, it took the event to a whole other level at Beijing’s Olympic Stadium. On top of the usual ROC Nations Cup and individual contest, there was also a legends competition featuring the likes of Mick Doohan, Johnny Herbert and eventual winner Andy Priaulx.
There was also a contest for just Chinese competitors, while the individual tournament for all drivers was as good as ever and featured a semi-final clash between Vettel and Schumacher - won by the seven-time world champion.
Pascal Wehrlein suffers scary crash at the 2017 Race of Champions
Pascal Wehrlein was forced to withdraw from the 2017 competition after suffering a major crash on day one. The then-Sauber F1 driver was racing against Brazil’s Felipe Massa in Miami, but suddenly hit a trackside barrier which sent his three-wheeled Polaris Slingshot into Massa's machine, causing the German to then flip into the wall.
It was a pretty costly crash too, because it caused a back injury which meant Wehrlein skipped the opening two rounds of the 2017 F1 season. The incident also left Vettel to compete for Germany single-handedly, but he remarkably won the ROC Nations Cup having defeated Kurt and Kyle Busch of Team USA NASCAR in the final.
Sim racer pulls off shock victory against Sebastian Vettel in 2022
Despite all of Vettel’s success at the competition, the four-time world champion is still prone to losing. That happened in 2022 when Lucas Blakeley pulled off a stunning victory in the ROC Nations Cup when competing for the Sim Racing All Stars team against Germany.
Driving the all-electric World RX2e, the 2022 F1 Esports champion clocked a 1m02.281s, which was just 0.080s quicker than Vettel. Even though Germany eventually won the contest 2-1, it was still an impressive achievement from Blakeley - who before the event had just 20 minutes of actual on-track experience.
Lucas Blakeley shocks more F1 stars in 2023
Even more impressively, that victory over Vettel wasn’t just a one-off for Blakeley, who helped the sim racing team eliminate Finland from the 2023 ROC Nations Cup. In the first heat, Blakeley demolished Bottas by 4.027s around the twice-round figure-eight course.
Finland subsequently claimed a 2-1 lead when Blakeley’s team-mate Jarno Opmeer lost to both Bottas and Hakkinen, yet the score became level when Blakeley staggeringly defeated the two-time F1 champion by over seven seconds. This gave the sim racers a better combined time, so they progressed into the second round but lost to Germany.
Who has the most wins at the Race of Champions?
Auriol, Loeb and Ekstrom all hold the record for the most Race of Champions titles with four apiece.
The 1994 WRC champion claimed his first crown in 1993 when Auriol defeated Carlos Sainz Sr in the final, before going back-to-back the following year with Stig Blomqvist as his runner-up. The 1990s was a dominant period for Auriol, as he won again in 1996 before the Frenchman claimed his fourth title in 1999.
Loeb then started to dominate the competition, as the nine-time WRC champion won three times from 2003 to 2008 before going 14 years until his fourth title in 2022. He claimed that crown by beating 2015 champion Vettel - having overcome other competition like Ekstrom, Oliver Solberg and Benito Guerra Jr on his route to the final.
But redemption followed for Ekstrom the following year, when he also ended a 14-year drought having won three in four from 2006 to 2009.
Blomqvist, Coulthard and Kankkunen are the three other drivers with multiple Race of Champions titles, while 15 competitors have won it once.
| Total | Driver | Years |
| 4 | Didier Auriol | 1993-94, 1996, 1999 |
| 4 | Sebastien Loeb | 2003, 2005, 2008, 2022 |
| 4 | Mattias Ekstrom | 2006-07, 2009, 2023 |
| 2 | Juha Kankkunen | 1988, 1991 |
| 2 | Stig Blomqvist | 1989-90 |
| 2 | David Coulthard | 2014, 2018 |
| 1 | Andrea Aghini | 1992 |
| 1 | Francois Delecour | 1995 |
| 1 | Carlos Sainz Sr | 1997 |
| 1 | Colin McRae | 1998 |
| 1 | Tommi Makinen | 2000 |
| 1 | Harri Rovanpera | 2001 |
| 1 | Marcus Gronholm | 2002 |
| 1 | Heikki Kovalainen | 2004 |
| 1 | Filipe Albuquerque | 2010 |
| 1 | Sebastien Ogier | 2011 |
| 1 | Romain Grosjean | 2012 |
| 1 | Sebastian Vettel | 2015 |
| 1 | Juan Pablo Montoya | 2017 |
| 1 | Benito Guerra | 2019 |
| 1 | Timmy Hansen | 2020 |
Germany is by far the most successful country at Race of Champions, as it has won eight ROC Nations Cups - six more than those in second.
Its success was started by Schumacher and Vettel in 2007, who won six-in-a-row until 2012, five years before the four-time F1 champion single-handedly won it for Germany.
Vettel missed the 2018 contest though, as he wanted to practise more on his F1 simulator. So, in came Rene Rast and Timo Bernhard, who in the final beat Juan Pablo Montoya and Helio Castroneves of Team Latin America 2-1 to claim Germany’s eighth title.
| Total | Country/Team | Years |
| 8 | Germany | 2007-12, 2017-18 |
| 2 | Finland | 1999, 2006 |
| 2 | All-Stars (France, Spain, Brazil, UK) | 2003, 2020 |
| 2 | France | 2000, 2004 |
| 2 | Nordic (Denmark, Sweden, Norway) | 2014, 2019 |
| 2 | Norway | 2022, 2023 |
| 1 | Spain | 2001 |
| 1 | USA | 2002 |
| 1 | Scandinavia (Denmark, Sweden) | 2005 |
| 1 | England | 2015 |
