Race of Champions: Narain Karthikeyan and Karun Chandhok in RoC qualifier

Neither of India's two most prominent drivers have competed in the RoC before, but after respective seasons in Formula 1 (Karthikeyan) and the FIA World Endurance Championship (Chandhok) they have agreed to compete in the RoC Asia qualifier.

The pair were last team-mates back in 2004, when Chandhok contested four races of the World Series by Nissan, in which Karthikeyan finished sixth overall.

Three other teams will enter, including China and RoC hosts Thailand, with the winners set to progress into this year's main competition. Both the RoC and its Asia counterpart will be held at Bangkok's Rajamangala Stadium.

"It's a fantastic honour to receive an invitation to participate in the Race of Champions," said Karthikeyan.

"The competition is the strongest in the world, with the best of the best from many different forms of motor sport all competing against each other. The added benefit of representing your country is a real privilege.

"Karun and I are definitely going to enjoy ourselves, racing against our peers in some pretty cool machinery, but we will also be gunning for victory, and with a bit of luck, we will bring glory to our nation."

Chandhok, who finished 10th in this year's WEC, added: "It's fantastic that the organisers have decided to have an Indian team and Narain and I had the dates free to do it.

"The event looks like a lot of fun while obviously being very competitive."

Should they win the RoC Asia event, Team India will then compete against the likes of Sebastian Vettel, Michael Schumacher, 2012 IndyCar champion Ryan Hunter-Reay and 2012 MotoGP champion Jorge Lorenzo.