Team Norway’s Petter and Oliver Solberg retain the ROC Nations Cup
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Father and son Petter and Oliver Solberg have stormed to the ROC Nations Cup title for Team Norway for the second year in a row on snow and ice in Sweden’s Pite Havsbad
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The pair defeated Team All Stars Thierry Neuville and Felipe Drugovich by three heats to one in a thrilling final to cap a busy afternoon of ice-cold action
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To the dismay of the home fans, Team Sweden’s Mattias Ekström and Johan Kristoffersson went out to Team Norway in the semifinals, despite Ekström winning his heat against Petter Solberg by a single thousandth of a second.
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Team Germany’s Sebastian Vettel and Mick Schumacher also went out in the semi-finals, beaten by Team All Stars
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Team Finland’s F1 greats Mika Hakkinen and Valtteri Bottas were among the early casualties, suffering a shock defeat by Team eROC sim racers Lucas Blakeley and Jarno Opmeer
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All the action continues tomorrow with the individual Race Of Champions from 12:00-15:00 CET on the frozen Baltic Sea just 60 miles from the Arctic Circle
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The event will be televised LIVE worldwide. Details here…
Team Norway’s father and son, Petter and Oliver Solberg, celebrate after taking a stunning victory in the ROC Nations Cup on the snow and ice of Pite Havsbad, to retain the title they first won last year.
On a sunny afternoon on the frozen Baltic Sea just 60 miles from the Arctic Circle, legends from the world’s greatest motorsport series – including Formula 1, Formula 2, IndyCar, Le Mans, W Series, World Rally, World Rallycross, Nitro Rallycross and X-Games – came together in pairs to fight for national and regional pride.
They raced head-to-head on a parallel track with ROC’s iconic crossover bridge in an amazing mix of cars. This year’s lineup of mighty machines included the electric Cupra UrbanRebel Concept, Zeroid X1 rallycross car powered by QEV and the FC1-X Nitro Rallycross car. The Polaris RZR PRO XP all-terrain vehicle made a welcome return to ROC as did the SuperCar Lites, now powered by 100% fossil-free biofuel.
And what a festival of icy action it was – as FIA World Rally and World Rallycross Champion Petter Solberg and his rising WRC star son Oliver Solberg triumphed in the final against Team All Stars: winner of 17 WRC rallies Thierry Neuville and reigning FIA F2 Champion Felipe Drugovich.
In the first heat, Neuville saw off the challenge of Petter Solberg before both Oliver and Petter beat Felipe Drugovich, who started the week in the thirty degree heat of his native Brazil. Oliver then defeated Neuville to take the decisive win, meaning Team Norway retains the ROC Nations Cup trophy.
Afterwards, a happy Petter Solberg said:
“Everyone loves the Race Of Champions but I was nervous today: the conditions change every run so it was easy to make a mistake. You get butterflies in your stomach and you still have to go out and do what you do. Sébastien Loeb didn’t have a fair chance because of his late arrival, but beating him was pretty fun. Then the feeling got better and better. As for Oliver, I knew he was fast but when you meet the Swedish drivers you really need a perfect run. That’s what he did, and the same in the final. Oliver had a great race day: not only for winning but also for his speed. He saved me today, just like he did last year.
“I just want to say thank you to the whole team behind the Race Of Champions. As always it’s been a great event and a great atmosphere. It’s a big job to organize this with the drivers, the track and everyone involved and I’m just so happy to be a part of it. I’m very impressed with Fredrik, Jessie and the crew: what they do, and their passion and positivity. You deserve a big round of applause tonight.”
Oliver Solberg added:
“It’s great to win the ROC Nations Cup again, especially to win the final heat against Thierry Neuville, my WRC teammate last year. I don’t usually beat him that much so I’m very happy to beat him now. Congratulations to Team All Stars and Felipe did a great job too. We were together in the car for practice yesterday and we had a lot of fun together with the big jumps. Maybe I shouldn’t have brought him in the car because he was a bit too fast…
“I didn’t know I was going that fast today. When you start racing against drivers Loeb, Ekström and Kristoffersson from the beginning you get very nervous. But I had consistent lap times. When that happens you don’t want to overdo it, you just try to drive like you always do. When it works, it’s a great feeling.”
Defeated finalists Team All Stars also had a good afternoon’s work, but narrowly missed out on taking home the trophy.
Thierry Neuville said:
“This is a great event. My goal was to go as fast as I could in each individual heat, to adapt as quickly as possible to each car. I also helped Felipe get into the mood and understand this type of driving. Rally driver used to a track that develops this fast but it’s tougher for the circuit guys so Felipe really impressed me with his driving and learning during the day, Felipe’s improvement made the difference and that’s why we made it all the way to the final.
“I won a lot of races today and obviously beating Sebastian Vettel was something special. Today was almost perfect for me until I messed it up against Oliver right at the end. Obviously I don’t like to lose but Oliver drove very well and he always sends very hard in a race like that so I knew it was going to be really tight. In the end he beat me by a big margin so well done to him.”
Felipe Drugovich added:
– I did not expect to make it to the final. The learning curve today was even steeper than during the other training days. In those days, it was about trying a little in a car, then stopping and waiting for a long time. Today I drove the whole time which helps a lot. Ice skating is really cool exercise for control. Obviously the technique is nowhere near what we do on the track but it teaches you a lot so I hope to keep learning. I feel better every time I get on the court so hopefully I can keep this learning curve going and get closer to the other guys.”
As track conditions on snow and ice can change quickly depending on the weather, the ROC’s traditional group stage did not take place. Instead, this year’s ROC Nations Cup used a straight knockout system. To make it as fair as possible, races were decided over four heats, with each driver competing against both drivers from the other team. For games tied 2-2, the team with the best overall time made it through.
To the dismay of the home fans who packed the venue, Team Sweden’s Mattias Ekström and Johan Kristoffersson went out in the semi-finals to Team Norway. The two World Rallycross Champions finished in a 2-2 tie, but they went out due to the fastest overall times. That result came despite one of ROC’s toughest finishes when Ekström defeated Petter Solberg by a single thousandth of a second.
Team Germany’s four-time F1 world champion Sebastian Vettel and fellow F1 racer Mick Schumacher also made it all the way to the semi-finals, before being beaten 3-1 by Team All Stars.
There were some big stars in global motorsport going out in the quarter-finals, including Team Nordic’s nine-time Le Mans 24 Hours winner Tom Kristensen and IndyCar race winner Felix Rosenqvist, who were beaten 4-0 by Team Sweden.
Team France’s pair of nine-time World Rally Champion Sébastien Loeb and 2022 eTouring Car World Cup champion Adrien Tambay fell to another 4-0 quarter-final defeat against Team Norway. Loeb flew into the venue by helicopter this morning, arriving just an hour before today’s competition began. He is now hoping for better luck tomorrow when he defends his crown in the individual Race Of Champions.
Team USA extreme sports legend and Nitro rallycross champion Travis Pastrana and fellow rallycross ace Tanner Foust also went out in the quarterfinals, defeated 3-1 by Team All Stars despite Pastrana taking a lone heat win against Drugovich.
Another casualty at this stage was Team eROC’s F1 Esports Pro Series champions Lucas Blakeley and Jarno Opmeer, who were defeated 3-0 by Team Germany. But the swim racers can sleep well tonight after suffering a stunning early shock.
The afternoon’s action began with a big surprise in the two finals of Round 1 as Team Finland’s pair of F1 greats Mika Hakkinen and Valtteri Bottas went out to Team eROC. Blakeley repeated his heroics from last year – beating Vettel in his first ever race in a real car – and this time he added both Finns to his growing list of victims. Bottas and Hakkinen both beat Opmeer for a 2-2 overall scoreline, but they went out on a countdown of total lap times.
Team GB’s 13-time Formula One Grand Prix winner David Coulthard and three-time W Series champion Jamie Chadwick were the other pair to bid an early farewell. They fell to a 3-1 defeat by Team Germany, although Chadwick salvaged some national pride by winning his heat against Vettel.
Ahead of today’s on-track activities, the drivers unfurled a banner in collaboration with the Institute for Advanced Brain and Spinal Cord Injury Research ICM to honor ROC’s absent friend (and six-time ROC Nations Cup winner) Michael Schumacher as he continues his recovery.
The competition continues with tomorrow’s individual Race Of Champions (Sunday 29 January, 12:00-15:00 CET) when all teamwork goes out the window and it’s a straight battle to come away with the coveted title of ROC Champion of Champions.
Watch the action LIVE worldwide on networks including SVT1 and SVT Play (Sweden), C More Max and Cmore.fi (Finland), NRK (Norway), Canal + (France, French-speaking countries, Switzerland and Poland), Sky Sports (UK , Ireland), ViaPlay (Denmark, Iceland), Ziggo (Netherlands), TV3 (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania), OTE (Greece), Cablenet (Cyprus), MavTV (USA), REV TV (Canada), Star + OTT – Disney (Latin America), Fox 3 (Mexico), Supersport (Africa – English speaking), Canal + and Supersport (Africa), Astro (Malaysia, Brunei) and HK-Cable (Hong Kong). In all other countries, the live stream will be available on Race Of Champions Official YouTube Channel.
Stay up to date with all the latest news on Race Of Champions on Facebook and @raceofchampions on Twitter, Instagram and Tick thanks. The official hashtag for the event is #ROCSweden.
Race Of Champions Draw (Sunday 29 January)
Round 1
Adrien TAMBAY v David COULTHARD
Felix ROSENQVIST vs. Mick SCHUMACHER
Round 16
Mika HAKKINEN against Felipe DRUGOVICH
TAMBAY or COULTHARD against ROSENQVIST or SCHUMACHER
Valtteri BOTTAS v Tom KRISTENSEN
Sebastian VETTEL v Jamie CHADWICK
Sébastien LOEB against Thierry NEUVILLE
Petter SOLBERG against Oliver SOLBERG
Johan KRISTOFFERSSON v Tanner FOUST
Travis PASTRANA against Mattias EKSTRÖM