Indian racing drivers Narain Karthikeyan and Karun Chandhok will represent India once again at the 2013 Race of Champions scheduled be held at Bangkok’s Rajamangala Stadium on 14-15.
2012 was the first year that Team India made an appearance at the ROC, which promptly saw India being crowned ROC Asia Champions ahead of China, Japan and Thailand. The performance has now earned Chandhok and Karthikeyan an invitation to return to the scene of their triumph in Bangkok for ROC 2013.
Karun was excited to return to the ROC and his happy to be back with more experience in hand.
“I'm very excited to be going back to Bangkok for the Race Of Champions. Narain and I had a great time together last year and it was fantastic to be the first ROC Asia winners. It was really nice to drive such a variety of cars and we both have more experience this year and know a bit more about how it all works", he commented.
Narain Karthikeyan was excited at the prospect of going head-to-head with elite list of world champions that compete in the ROC.
“It will be a great privilege to represent India again at the Race Of Champions. We had a great time at our first attempt when we won ROC Asia but it is always a challenge to jump into different cars and adapt quickly. However, with the experience of the 2012 event behind us, we feel more confident and better prepared this time and going head to head with world champions like Michael Schumacher and Sébastian Ogier is something we're looking forward to.”
Chandhok and Karthikeyan are the only Indian drivers ever to have competed in F1 and both have extensive racing pedigrees elsewhere too. Chandhok is a race-winner in GP2 and has since turned his hand to endurance racing with strong finishes in the last two Le Mans 24-Hour races. Karthikeyan has taken victories in everything from British F3 to A1GP and Superleague Formula before enjoying considerable success this year in AutoGP including a haul of five wins.
Held every year since 1988, the Race Of Champions brings together the world’s greatest drivers from motor sport’s main disciplines – including Formula 1, world rally, Le Mans, MotoGP, Nascar, IndyCar, touring cars and the X-Games – and sets them free to battle head-to-head in identical machinery.
ROC 2013 will take place on a specially constructed tarmac track with two parallel lanes winding their way round Bangkok’s Rajamangala Stadium. Drivers pair up for the ROC Nations Cup, this year scheduled for Saturday 14 December, ahead of the individual Race Of Champions on Sunday 15 December.
ROC features stars from all over the world: seven-time F1 world champion Michael Schumacher, nine-time Le Mans winner Tom Kristensen and newly-crowned World Rally Champion Sébastien Ogier have already signed up and the rest of the 2013 field will be announced in the run-up to December’s event.
Unnatee Gidithuri
Stephen Raj Antony
Saptarshi Mondal
