Bourdais and Kanaan for RoC
Newly-crowned Champ Car king Sebastien Bourdais and IndyCar Series champion Tony Kanaan have both confirmed they will compete in the end-of-season Race of Champions event at the Stade de France in Paris
The inclusion of champions from both US motorsport's premier single-seater racing categories, the Champ Car World Series and the IRL IndyCar Series, marks the latest coup for the unique and popular head-to-head event. It also means that the reigning title-holder in every major car racing series worldwide could be accounted for given that F1 world champion Micheal Schumacher and WRC winner Sebastien Loeb have already announced their participation.
It's still possible that the NASCAR Nextel Cup champion could be represented. With two rounds left to go in the series, both US RoC team-mates Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson are in with a chance of winning. The only name left to complete the set is Moto GP champion Valentino Rossi. He has competed in the event before and is unashamed rallying fan. The RoC has yet to announce its Italian representatives...
Kanaan will pair with Sauber F1 driver Felipe Massa to make up team Brazil and the grand prix star is expected to take on the role of racer while Kanaan will be the rally driver for the night.
"When the organisers called me up they didn't have to finish the sentence for me to say yes," said Kanaan. "I have watched the RoC for a while, and a lot of the guys who have done it before like Kenny Brack and Cristiano da Matta have said how much fun it is."
Bourdais meanwhile will team-up with former F1 driver and new WRC sensation Stephane Sarrazin to create a second French team known as Playstation Team France. Loeb and Jean Alesi are already signed in for Team France.
"After having won the title in America it's fantastic to come back to France and compete," said Bourdais. "We will try to celebrate by winning another title in front of our home crowd!"
Autosport International - Teaser
This Week with Will Buxton: Episode 6
This Week with Will Buxton: Episode 5
This Week with Will Buxton: Episode 3
The one-time Schumacher rival rebooting his career Down Under
Joey Mawson made waves in the middle of the last decade, beating future Haas Formula 1 driver Mick Schumacher - among other highly-rated talents - to the 2016 German F4 title. A run in F1's feeder GP3 category only caused his career to stall, but now back in Australia Mawson's S5000 title success has set that to rights
The lesson football’s would-be wreckers could learn from racing
OPINION: The greed-driven push for a European Super League that threatened to tear football apart is collapsing at the seams. Motor racing's equivalent, the football-themed Superleague Formula series of 2008-11, was everything that the proposed ESL never could be
The F1 and Indy 'nearly man' that found contentment in Japan
Having had the door to F1 slammed in his face and come within three laps of winning the Indianapolis 500, the collapse of a Peugeot LMP1 shot meant Japan was Bertrand Baguette's last chance of a career. But it's one which he has grasped with both hands
The female all-rounder who arrived "too early"
From Formula 3 to truck racing, Dakar and EuroNASCAR via a winning stint in the DTM, there's not much Ellen Lohr hasn't seen in a stellar racing career that highlights the merit in being a generalist. But she believes her career came too early...
How Radical's latest machines fare on track
The lightweight sportscar manufacturer has not rewritten the rulebook with its latest machines, but the new SR3 XX and SR10 still provide a step forward on its previous successful models
The real-life racing rogues stranger than fiction
The forthcoming Netflix film linking the world of underworld crime and motorsport plays on a theme that isn't exactly new. Over the years, several shady figures have attempted to make it in racing before their dubious dealings caught up with them
How a GP is thriving in a COVID-free territory
The New Zealand Grand Prix's mix of rising talent and big-name stars thrilled the crowds (yes, remember crowds?) assembled for the Toyota Racing Series meeting at Hampton Downs last weekend and left distant observers craving a repeat
How a much-changed Macau GP kept the party going
OPINION: The 67th edition of the Macau Grand Prix might have been a largely muted affair to the outside world without its international influx and star line-ups, another victim to the COVID-19 pandemic, but organisers deserve huge credit for keeping the party going
