Race of Champions – 2018 Advance Statistics (February 1, 2018)

This weekend will mark the 29th Race of Champions, an international event held annually featuring drivers from different disciplines competing individually and as a pair for titles. Originally scheduled for rally drivers, the event now includes drivers from disciplines such as IndyCar, Formula 1, NASCAR and the World Endurance Championship, in addition to the World Rally Championship. Teammates are paired together by countries, and vie for the ROC Nations’ Cup.

This year’s event – scheduled Friday, February 2, and Saturday, February 3 – will be held at King Fahd International Stadium in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, marking the first time the country has hosted an international motorsports event.

Here are some facts, figures and statistics related to the event and its previous runnings.

Statistics – 29th Race of Champions

- This is the 29th Race of Champions and the first race in Saudi Arabia. It will be the third race held in Asia (one race held in China and another in Thailand) and the first in the Middle East.

- Saudi Arabia becomes the ninth country to host the Race of Champions. Spain has hosted 14 of the 29 races. France, which hosted the first race in 1988, has hosted the event four times, followed by Germany and England three times, while the United States, Barbados, Thailand and China have hosted the race once each.

- The race was not held in 2013 (canceled due to political unrest in the host country of Thailand) and 2016.

- Juan Pablo Montoya is the defending champion of the event – the Champion of Champions. It was his first victory. He was the 19th driver to win as an individual. He looks to defend his title this year and become the first driver since Mattias Ekstrom (Sweden) to win back-to-back races (2006 and 2007).

- Montoya was the first driver from Colombia as well as South America to win a Race of Champions as an individual. In fact, he was the first non-European to win the event as an individual. Drivers from nine different countries and two continents have won the race – Colombia, Germany, United Kingdom, France, Portugal, Sweden, Finland, Spain and Italy.

- France leads all countries with individual victories – 10, spread among a country-high five drivers.

- Germany holds the record for most Nations’ Cup victories, with an unprecedented seven. France and Finland are tied for second with two, while the United States and England each have one. Teams of All-Stars, Scandinavia drivers, and Nordic drivers also each have one.

- In total, Sebastien Vettel holds the record for most combined victories with eight, followed by Michael Schumacher’s six. Vettel won the individual title in 2016, and has been a part of each of Germany’s seven Nations’ Cup titles, including the race in 2017 (also won from 2007-2012 with Schumacher).

- Vettel is one of five drivers to win the Champion of Champions and Nations’ Cup title. Finnish drivers Heikki Kovalanien, Marcus Gronholm and Tommi Makinen and French pilot Sebastien Loeb have all earned individual and team titles.

- Drivers who have won team titles have combined to win 16 Formula 1 World Championship titles, 11 NASCAR Cup Series championships, 16 World Rally Championship crowns and 11 overall victories in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, thus truly solidifying this event as the Race of Champions.

- Drivers who have won individual titles have four F1 titles, two Indianapolis 500 wins, four overall victories in the Rolex 24 At Daytona, 29 World Rally Championship titles, and 67 Formula 1 victories.

- This year’s entry list features 11 teams spanning 13 countries – Latin America (Brazil and Colombia), Nordic (Norway and Denmark), Sim Racing All Star (Netherlands), United Kingdom, United States, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, United Arab Emirates, Germany, Sweden and Mexico. That amounts to competitors from four different continents.

- The 2018 race features drivers with six Indianapolis 500 victories, three IndyCar Series titles, one World Rally Championship, 11 overall victories in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and a combined six overall victories in the Rolex 24 At Daytona.

- The youngest driver in the 2018 field is Lando Norris of England (18 years, two months), and the oldest is Tom Kristensen of Denmark (50 years, six months).

- Of the 22 competitors entered, five drivers competed in last weekend’s Rolex 24 At Daytona – Juan Pablo Montoya, Helio Castroneves, Lando Norris, Ryan Hunter-Reay and Rene Rast.

- Of the 22 competitors entered, only six competed in last year’s event – Juan Pablo Montoya, Helio Castroneves, Tom Kristensen, Petter Solberg, David Coulthard and Ryan Hunter-Reay.

- Tom Kristensen has competed in every ROC since 2005, a string of 11 consecutive events and the most of any competitor entered in 2018. The second most consecutive events for active drivers is four, by Ryan Hunter-Reay.