Danish Tom Kristensen, the nine time Le Mans 24 Hour race winner has signed up for the 2013 Race of Champions (ROC) to be held at Bangkok’s Rajamangala Stadium on the weekend of December 14-15.
The Race of Champions is the end of season contest, and since 1988 brought together the world’s top drivers from motor sport’s main disciplines including Formula 1, World Rally (WRC), Le Mans, MotoGP, Nascar, IndyCar, touring cars and the X-Games – and by giving them identical machinery hopes to produce a level playing field which then produces the champion of champions in the final.
Champion Romain Grosjean.
Denmark’s Kristensen is acknowledged as the finest endurance racer in motor sport history. His victory for Audi at this year’s Le Mans 24 Hour race in partnership with Allan McNish and Loic Duval took his record haul of wins to nine – in addition to his record six wins at the Sebring 12 Hour race and an American Le Mans Series title.
Kristensen’s has appeared at the Race Of Champions every year since 2001 – yet another record. He has achieved considerable success during that time, notably reaching the individual Grand Final in each of the last two years only to fall to French opposition: first world rally ace Sébastien Ogier then F1 star Romain Grosjean. To have come so close will doubtless spur the Dane on to even greater feats as he bids for his first Champion of Champions title in 2013.
According to his website Tom Kristensen said, “The Race Of Champions is a great way to end the season. Always fun with great camaraderie among all the drivers from different types of motor sport. That is why I come back every year. Still, I do give everything to win and I’m getting closer every year! The challenge is to jump into different cars and Romain deserved to win in 2012. But even though I’m a bit older, to reach the final and race the youngsters is still a lot of fun. Last year was the warmest ROC I have competed in so we know what to expect in Bangkok. I’m still young so maybe one day I’ll get the chance to win it… preferably in December.”
