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 and Africa. 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.
The new dates affected the United States and Australia the worst, since it meant drivers from those countries' popular saloon-car 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

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

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.

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.

Participants

ROC Nations Cup

Group A

Group B

Group C

Knockout stages

Semifinals

Final

World Final

Round 1

Group A

Driver 1Time 1CarDriver 2Time 2
Jenson Button2:00.085 Tom Kristensen2:01.381
Guerlain Chicherit2:04.486 Tanner Foust2:00.578
Tanner Foust1:57.677Solution F Prototype Jenson Button1:57.627
Tom Kristensen1:58.305 Guerlain ChicheritDNF
Guerlain Chicherit2:03.938KTM X-Bow Jenson Button1:59.174
Tanner Foust2:04.512KTM X-Bow Tom Kristensen1:59.136

Group B

Driver 1Time 1CarDriver 2Time 2
Mattias Ekström1:58.551 Andy Priaulx1:59.860
Mick Doohan2:04.325 Travis Pastrana2:04.402
Travis Pastrana2:04.208 Mattias Ekström2:02.174
Andy Priaulx2:04.801 Mick Doohan2:05.229
Mick DoohanDNFKTM X-Bow Mattias Ekström1:58.276
Travis PastranaDNFKTM X-Bow Andy Priaulx2:00.043

Group C

Driver 1Time 1CarDriver 2Time 2
Sebastian Vettel2:00.363 Mikko Hirvonen2:02.567
Chad Reed2:02.391ROC Car Giniel de Villiers2:04.247
Giniel de Villiers1:53.626Ford Focus RS WRC Sebastian Vettel1:51.442
Mikko Hirvonen1:51.094Ford Focus RS WRC Chad Reed1:54.247
Chad ReedDNF Sebastian Vettel1:58.583
Giniel de Villiers2:04.437 Mikko Hirvonen2:01.859

Group D

Driver 1Time 1CarDriver 2Time 2
Michael Schumacher1:58.644 David Coulthard2:00.503
Marcus Grönholm2:01.456 Yvan Muller2:00.191
Yvan Muller2:01.474 Michael Schumacher1:59.296
David Coulthard2:00.259 Marcus Grönholm2:00.835
Marcus Grönholm2:02.111KTM X-Bow Michael Schumacher1:59.907
Yvan Muller1:58.956KTM X-Bow David Coulthard1:58.547

Knockout stages

Final