2012 Race of Champions

Layout of the Track

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]

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

ROC Asia

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

ROC Thailand

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 Thailand Nattavude Charoensukawattana Super Car Thailand
Thailand Nattapon Horthongkum Super Car Thailand
Thailand Sak Nana
Thailand Tin Sritrai Super Car Thailand

Cars

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

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

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

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

ROC Asia

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

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

Nations Cup

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

Group A
Pos.TeamWinsLossesDriverWinsLossesBest Time
1 France France 4 2 France Romain Grosjean 2 1 1:16.613
France Sébastien Ogier 2 1 1:16.240
2 DenmarkSpain All-Stars 3 3 Denmark Tom Kristensen 2 1 1:14.708
Spain Jorge Lorenzo 1 2 1:23.310
3 MexicoUnited States Americas 3 3 Mexico Benito Guerra 2 1 1:22.346
United States Ryan Hunter-Reay 1 2 1:19.133
4 United Kingdom Great Britain 2 4 United Kingdom David Coulthard 1 2 1:15.798
United Kingdom Andy Priaulx 1 2 1:17.055

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

Finals
 
Semi-finalsFinal
 
      
 
 
 
 
 France France2
 
 
 
 DenmarkSpain All-Stars0
 
 France France0
 
 
 
 Germany Germany2
 
 Germany Germany2
 
 
 Australia Australia0
 

Semifinals
Team 1 Time 1 Car Team 2 Time 2
France France 2-0 DenmarkSpain 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 Germany 2-0 Australia Australia
Michael Schumacher 1:17.2869 Euro Racecar Jamie Whincup 1:22.1543 Yellow card
Sebastian Vettel 1:17.6834 Yellow card Lamborghini Gallardo Super Trofeo Mick Doohan 1:19.6904

Final
Team 1 Time 1 Car Team 2 Time 2
France France 0-2 Germany 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

Knockout stage
Quarterfinals Semifinals Final
         
France Sébastien Ogier 0
Denmark Tom Kristensen 1
Denmark Tom Kristensen 1
United Kingdom David Coulthard 0
China Ho-Pin Tung 0
United Kingdom David Coulthard 1
Denmark Tom Kristensen 0
France Romain Grosjean 2
Germany Sebastian Vettel 0
France Romain Grosjean 1
France Romain Grosjean 1
Germany Michael Schumacher 0
Germany Michael Schumacher 1
Australia Mick Doohan 0

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

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

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

References
  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. "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. "The pre race participication list for the competition". Archived from the original on 10 December 2012. Retrieved 8 December 2012.
  11. "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. "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. "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. "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. "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. "Race Of Champions – 14th–16th December – Rajamangala Stadium, Bangkok". TSL Timing solutions. Retrieved 25 December 2012.
  23. "The Track". Archived from the original on 29 December 2012. Retrieved 23 January 2013.
  24. "Speedcafe". Retrieved 23 January 2013.
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