2010 Race of Champions to Be Hosted by Germany

The Race of Champions will return to Europe, as the 2010 edition of the aforementioned winter event will be hosted by Germany. The announcement was made during the course of last weekend, when it was confirmed that Dusseldorf's ESPRIT Arena will become the 4th stadium to see the champions of world motor racing compete head-to-head for the win.

So far, the Race of Champions was hosted by Paris' Stade de France, London's Wembley Stadium and China's Bird's Nest (in terms of stadium appearances). Last year was the only time the competition took place outside Europe, as it was scheduled only a few days after the Formula One finale at Abi Dhabi. This year, the RoC will happen between November 26th and 27th, two weeks after the F1's final round.

The reason why we're looking at the event in relation to F1 is because Germany will once again be represented by its two Formula One stars Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel. The pair has already confirmed their presence in the event. The 7-time world champion of F1 scored a 2nd place last year, being defeated by DTM champion Mattias Ekstrom in the Beijing final.

“After the successful events in the Bird's Nest in Beijing and Wembley Stadium, we received offers from top class venues all over the globe. But after a long selection process Germany came out on top,” said RoC organiser Fredrik Johnsson.

“We had a very good experience in 1989 when we organised the second Race of Champions on the world's first parallel track at the Nurburgring. That had an amazing response from the German fans so we felt it was time to take the ROC back there after all these years.”

“With Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel fighting it out in Dusseldorf's covered and heated arena the atmosphere promises to be really hot - even at the end of November.”