If you attended last year’s Race of Champions at Rajamangala stadium then you were one of very few people enjoying “Thailand’s biggest motoring event,” as the race drew an incredibly limited number of fans. Some speculate it was the poor promotion of the event, others claim that the fan base just doesn’t exist in the kingdom. Either way, Bangkok has won the bid to hold the highly-anticipated Race of Champions again in 2013, despite the poor attendance.
This year’s iteration of the race will see the world’s best drivers going head to head in a range of identical vehicles, from Lamborghinis to dune buggies, all racing for the honor of being the world’s best driver.
In 2012, big name drivers like Sebastian Vettel, Michael Schumacher, Jorge Lorenzo, and David Coulthard appeared at the race, and we can expect most of these names to return for 2013, but since the race takes the best drivers from each disciple of motorsport, we’ll have to wait for the respective motor sport seasons to end and the champions to be announced before Bangkok’s Race of Champions roster can be finalized.
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For fans of all motorsports, this could potentially be the most exciting event to happen all year. What makes the race unique is that each driver is forced to step out of their comfort zone and drive vehicles that they may not have much race experience in. For instance, MotoGP Champion Jorge Lorenzo has very little racing experience driving a Lemans Audi R8, just as F1 champion Sebastian Vettel has logged very few hours behind the wheel of an Euro Supercup V8 car.
Recent efforts have been made by both Thai firms and the Tourism Authority of Thailand to make Bangkok Asia’s premier motorsport destination. Red Bull and Singha are both title partners of the event. Kanokphand Chulakasem, the governor of The Sports Authority of Thailand, says “We are delighted to play host to the Race Of Champions again. Last year’s ROC was Thailand’s largest motor sport event ever. It was an enormous success and put Thailand on the map for major sports events.”
The Race of Champions hosting announcement comes after a long debate about where to host Thailand’s first ever Forumla 1 race, which remains still unresolved.
