2012 Race of Champions

The 2012 Race of Champions was the 25th running of the event, and took place over 14–16 December 2012 at the Rajamangala Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand.[1][2][3] During the first day, a ROC Thailand contest was held with four local drivers to decide the identity of the Thai representatives. The top two drivers (Nattavude Charoensukawattana and Tin Sritrai) advanced to the ROC Asia contest, where they faced teams from India, China and Japan. The Thai team was guaranteed a place in the main Nations Cup, whilst the second spot was taken by the victorious Indian team formed by F1 driver Narain Karthikeyan and WEC driver Karun Chandhok.[4] During the second day, Germany took their sixth consecutive Nations Cup victory courtesy of Sebastian Vettel and Michael Schumacher, beating France (Sébastien Ogier and Romain Grosjean) in the final 2–0.[5] During the final day, Romain Grosjean won the Race of Champions, beating Tom Kristensen 2–0 in a closely fought final.[6][7] In the UK, the live broadcasts of the latter two days of the event on Motors TV attracted a peak of 44,000 television viewers, a respectable figure for a satellite-only channel.[8]

Layout of the Track

Participants edit

 
Romain Grosjean, the 2012 Champion of Champions

Champions from numerous series were invited, including Formula One (Sebastian Vettel, Michael Schumacher and Romain Grosjean), MotoGP (Jorge Lorenzo and Mick Doohan), WTCC (Andy Priaulx), V8 Supercars (Jamie Whincup), PWRC (Benito Guerra) and IndyCar (Ryan Hunter-Reay).[9] Also present was eight-time 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Tom Kristensen. The 2012 edition marked the first time drivers from India, Thailand and Mexico have competed, whilst it was the first time since the inaugural Nations Cup event in 1999 that there were no Finnish drivers present. Reigning champion Sébastien Ogier was the only former 'Champion of Champions' in attendance.[6][10]

Team Drivers 2012 series
All-Stars   Tom Kristensen[11] WEC
  Jorge Lorenzo[12] MotoGP
Americas[13]   Benito Guerra[13] Production WRC
  Ryan Hunter-Reay[14] IndyCar Series
Australia   Mick Doohan[15] none
  Jamie Whincup[15] V8 Supercars
France   Romain Grosjean[16] Formula One
  Sébastien Ogier[16] WRC
Germany   Michael Schumacher[17] Formula One
  Sebastian Vettel[18] Formula One
Great Britain   David Coulthard[19] DTM
  Andy Priaulx[11] DTM
India   Karun Chandhok[20] WEC
  Narain Karthikeyan[20] Formula One
Thailand[20]   Nattavude Charoensukawattana Super Car Thailand
  Tin Sritrai Super Car Thailand

ROC Asia edit

2012 marked the inaugural ROC Asia event, with drivers from a variety of championships (including Formula One, WEC and Super GT) taking part. The top two drivers from ROC Thailand would represent Thailand in the event.[10]

Country Drivers 2012 series
China   Han Han[20] China Rally and CTCC
  Ho-Pin Tung[20] PCC Asia
India   Karun Chandhok[20] WEC
  Narain Karthikeyan[20] Formula One
Japan   Takuto Iguchi[20] Super GT
  Kazuya Oshima[20] Formula Nippon/Super GT
Thailand[21]   Nattavude Charoensukawattana Super Car Thailand
  Tin Sritrai Super Car Thailand

ROC Thailand edit

The ROC Thailand contest was held to decide who would represent Thailand in ROC Asia, the Nations Cup and the Race of Champions. 2001 Asian Touring Car Series champion Charoensukawattana and 1999 Formula Asia champion Horthongkum battled out with drift driver Nana and touring car driver Sritrai to be among the top 2.[10]

Country Drivers 2012 series
Thailand   Nattavude Charoensukawattana Super Car Thailand
  Nattapon Horthongkum Super Car Thailand
  Sak Nana
  Tin Sritrai Super Car Thailand

Cars edit

Seven cars were used throughout the event. The Toyota GT86 and Lamborghini Gallardo Super Trofeo made their debut in this year, while the Škoda Fabia was dropped.[10]

The track edit

A 697 metres tarmac track was constructed in the Rajamangala Stadium.[22] The track had a bridge to connect the outer lane with the inner lane in an 8 shape track.[23] All the races were run to 2 laps (1.394 km).[23] In the first day a chicane was placed in the bridge area. The chicane was modified for the second and third day making the lap time longer.[24]

Tom Kristensen made the fastest time (1:14.0680) on the second configuration in an Audi R8 at speed of 67.75 km/h.[22]

ROC Thailand edit

Round Robin edit

Pos. Driver Wins Losses Best Time
1   Nattavude Charoensukawattana 3 0 1:21.087
2   Tin Sritrai 2 1 1:22.287
3   Nattapon Horthongkum 1 2 1:22.877
4   Sak Nana 0 3 1:24.309

Final edit

Winner Time Car Loser Time
  Nattavude Charoensukawattana 1:21.9160 Toyota GT86   Tin Sritrai 1:22.8871

ROC Asia edit

Round Robin edit

Pos. Team Wins Losses Drivers Wins Losses Best Time
1   India 4 2   Karun Chandhok 2 1 1:19.393
  Narain Karthikeyan 2 1 1:19.460
2   Japan 3 3   Kazuya Oshima 2 1 1:18.470
  Takuto Iguchi 1 2 1:19.853
3   Thailand 3 3   Nattavude Charoensukawattana 2 1 1:21.110
  Tin Sritrai 1 2 1:20.3364
4   China 2 4   Han Han 2 1 1:19.450
  Ho-Pin Tung 0 3 1:18.2100

Final edit

Winner Time Car Loser Time
  Narain Karthikeyan 1:20.1777 Volkswagen Scirocco   Kazuya Oshima 1:20.6809
  Karun Chandhok 1:21.4805 Toyota GT86   Takuto Iguchi 1:22.4326

Nations Cup edit

Drivers who made a false start are marked with a Yellow card   in the tables, and a time penalty of 5 seconds was added to their original time.

Group A edit

Pos. Team Wins Losses Driver Wins Losses Best Time
1   France 4 2   Romain Grosjean 2 1 1:16.613
  Sébastien Ogier 2 1 1:16.240
2    All-Stars 3 3   Tom Kristensen 2 1 1:14.708
  Jorge Lorenzo 1 2 1:23.310
3    Americas 3 3   Benito Guerra 2 1 1:22.346
  Ryan Hunter-Reay 1 2 1:19.133
4   Great Britain 2 4   David Coulthard 1 2 1:15.798
  Andy Priaulx 1 2 1:17.055

Group B edit

Pos. Team Wins Losses Driver Wins Losses Best Time
1   Germany 6 0   Michael Schumacher 3 0 1:15.614
  Sebastian Vettel 3 0 1:16.657
2   Australia 3 3   Mick Doohan 1 2 1:20.178
  Jamie Whincup 2 1 1:19.385
3   India 2 4   Karun Chandhok 1 2 1:18.317
  Narain Karthikeyan 1 2 1:23.169
4   Thailand 1 5   Nattavude Charoensukawattana 0 3 1:23.964
  Tin Sritrai 1 2 1:19.160

Finals edit

 
Semi-finalsFinal
 
      
 
 
 
 
  France2
 
 
 
   All-Stars0
 
  France0
 
 
 
  Germany2
 
  Germany2
 
 
  Australia0
 

Semifinals edit

Team 1 Time 1 Car Team 2 Time 2
  France 2-0    All-Stars
Sébastien Ogier 1:15.5143 Audi R8 LMS Tom Kristensen 1:15.6365
Romain Grosjean 1:23.1327 Toyota GT86 Jorge Lorenzo 1:24.7146
  Germany 2-0   Australia
Michael Schumacher 1:17.2869 Euro Racecar Jamie Whincup 1:22.1543  
Sebastian Vettel 1:17.6834   Lamborghini Gallardo Super Trofeo Mick Doohan 1:19.6904

Final edit

Team 1 Time 1 Car Team 2 Time 2
  France 0-2   Germany
Romain Grosjean 1:17.3946 KTM X-Bow Michael Schumacher 1:15.3257
Sébastien Ogier 1:20.5839 ROC Car Sebastian Vettel 1:18.6005

Race of Champions edit

Knockout stage edit

Quarterfinals Semifinals Final
         
  Sébastien Ogier 0
  Tom Kristensen 1
  Tom Kristensen 1
  David Coulthard 0
  Ho-Pin Tung 0
  David Coulthard 1
  Tom Kristensen 0
  Romain Grosjean 2
  Sebastian Vettel 0
  Romain Grosjean 1
  Romain Grosjean 1
  Michael Schumacher 0
  Michael Schumacher 1
  Mick Doohan 0

Quarterfinals edit

Driver 1 Time 1 Car Driver 2 Time 2
  Sébastien Ogier 1:14.5605 Audi R8 LMS   Tom Kristensen 1:14.0680
  Ho-Pin Tung 1:21.7089 Volkswagen Scirocco   David Coulthard 1:21.6364
  Sebastian Vettel DNF   KTM X-Bow   Romain Grosjean 1:15.5455
  Michael Schumacher 1:17.0426 Euro Racecar   Mick Doohan 1:25.1853  

Semifinals edit

Driver 1 Time 1 Car Driver 2 Time 2
  Tom Kristensen 1:14.3384 Audi R8 LMS   David Coulthard 1:15.8312
  Romain Grosjean 1:14.8951 KTM X-Bow   Michael Schumacher 1:15.3823

Final edit

Driver 1 Time 1 Car Driver 2 Time 2
  Tom Kristensen 1:18.9348 ROC Car   Romain Grosjean 1:18.4775
  Romain Grosjean 1:16.0779 KTM X-Bow   Tom Kristensen 1:16.4569

References edit

  1. ^ Google news article from AFP
  2. ^ The IBNLive news article on the race
  3. ^ "Bangkok to host 25th Race Of Champions". raceofchampions.com. Race of Champions. 25 May 2012. Archived from the original on 19 September 2012. Retrieved 25 May 2012.
  4. ^ "The Hindustan Times article on ROC Asia". Archived from the original on 23 December 2012. Retrieved 23 December 2012.
  5. ^ "News Story – Team Germany win sixth ROC Nations Cup". Race Of Champions. Archived from the original on 17 December 2012. Retrieved 18 December 2012.
  6. ^ a b "News Story – Grosjean crowned 2012 Champion of Champions". Race Of Champions. Archived from the original on 19 December 2012. Retrieved 18 December 2012.
  7. ^ The Formula One official site article on the race
  8. ^ "Motors TV coverage of Race of Champions peaks with 44,000 viewers". The F1 Broadcasting Blog. 17 December 2012. Retrieved 23 December 2012.
  9. ^ Pre-race article by Fox News
  10. ^ a b c d e "The pre race participication list for the competition". Archived from the original on 10 December 2012. Retrieved 8 December 2012.
  11. ^ a b "Tom Kristensen and Andy Priaulx to return". autosport.com. Autosport. 20 November 2012. Retrieved 20 November 2012.
  12. ^ "Jorge Lorenzo to make Race Of Champions debut". raceofchampions.com. Race of Champions. 31 October 2012. Archived from the original on 2 January 2013. Retrieved 31 October 2012.
  13. ^ a b "Guerra to partner Hunter-Reay on 'Team Americas'". raceofchampions.com. Race of Champions. 7 December 2012. Archived from the original on 12 December 2012. Retrieved 7 December 2012.
  14. ^ "2012 IndyCar Champion Hunter-Reay to race in Bangkok". raceofchampions.com. Race of Champions. 3 October 2012. Archived from the original on 5 January 2013. Retrieved 3 October 2012.
  15. ^ a b "Whincup and Doohan pair up for Team Australia". raceofchampions.com. Race of Champions. 11 October 2012. Archived from the original on 2 January 2013. Retrieved 11 October 2012.
  16. ^ a b "Reigning champion Ogier partners Grosjean for Team France". raceofchampions.com. Race of Champions. 4 December 2012. Archived from the original on 8 December 2012. Retrieved 4 December 2012.
  17. ^ "F1's greatest driver of all time Schumacher heads to ROC in Bangkok". raceofchampions.com. Race of Champions. 18 September 2012. Archived from the original on 30 December 2012. Retrieved 18 September 2012.
  18. ^ "F1 world champion Vettel returns to ROC in Bangkok". raceofchampions.com. Race of Champions. 11 June 2012. Archived from the original on 19 August 2012. Retrieved 11 June 2012.
  19. ^ "David Coulthard heads to Bangkok for ROC 2012". raceofchampions.com. Race of Champions. 24 October 2012. Archived from the original on 28 December 2012. Retrieved 24 October 2012.
  20. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Vettel and Lorenzo to go head-to-head at ROC". raceofchampions.com. Race of Champions. 7 December 2012. Archived from the original on 10 December 2012. Retrieved 8 December 2012.
  21. ^ "ROC Asia". raceofchampions.com. Race of Champions. Archived from the original on 9 December 2012. Retrieved 11 November 2012.
  22. ^ a b "Race Of Champions – 14th–16th December – Rajamangala Stadium, Bangkok". TSL Timing solutions. Retrieved 25 December 2012.
  23. ^ a b "The Track". Archived from the original on 29 December 2012. Retrieved 23 January 2013.
  24. ^ "Speedcafe". Retrieved 23 January 2013.

External links edit