IRC's Hanninen and Kopecky join RoC field

Kopecky, who has finished runner-up in the past three IRC seasons, will join Russia's Vitaly Petrov at Team Slavic, the first ever RoC partnership from Eastern Europe.

Hanninen, this year's WRC S2000 champion, will team up with Le Mans legend Tom Kristensen for Team Nordic as Sweden's Mattias Ekstrom has a clash of commitments on Saturday. Ekstrom will return for the 'Champion of Champions' race on Sunday.

"This chance to race against the world's best drivers is the perfect way to cap off the year," Kopecky said. "I actually used to race touring cars before I switched to rallies so hopefully that can help me with the quick car changes."

Hanninen, the only Finn to be confirmed thus far, said: "It's an honour to be competing at the Race Of Champions. Finland has an impressive ROC record dating all the way back to Juha Kankkunen who won the first event in 1988. I'm the only Finn in the ROC line-up so far - so no pressure then!

"Hopefully Tom and I have a blend of racing and rally experience that will work well as we try to take the ROC Nations Cup back to our part of the world."

Other drivers confirmed for this year's RoC include Formula 1's Sebastian Vettel, Michael Schumacher and Jenson Button, former World Touring Car champion Andy Priaulx, DTM champion Martin Tomczyk and World Rally star Sebastien Ogier.