Vitaly Petrov has confirmed he will compete in the 2011 Race of Champions event to be held later this year at the ESPRIT stadium in Düsseldorf.
The Russian driver joins an already impressive list which includes Jenson Button, Sebastian Vettel and Michael Schumacher, among many others including his Renault colleague, Romain Grosjean.
“It was a great honour to be the first Russian driver in Formula 1 – and now I’m delighted to become the first Russian to compete at the Race Of Champions,” said Petrov.
“I’ve followed the event for a long time and I know that all the drivers claim to be there for fun, while pushing as hard as ever in the cars. I’ve never raced in an event with such a quick turnaround of machinery but perhaps my unusual background in rally sprints and ice racing can help me. I’ll give my best and see what happens.”
The Race Of Champions is an annual end-of-season competition that brings together the world’s greatest drivers from all motor sport’s disciplines – including Formula 1, world rally, touring cars, Le Mans and the X-Games – and sets them free to battle head-to-head in identical machinery on a specially constructed parallel track. Drivers pair up for the ROC Nations Cup, this year scheduled for Saturday 3 December, before the individual Race Of Champions takes place on Sunday 4 December.
ROC race organiser Fredrik Johnsson added: “We’re always aiming to expand our horizons at the Race Of Champions so we’re thrilled to have our first Russian driver on board. Vitaly had a great GP2 career and he has carried that over to Formula 1 in the past two years. We look forward to seeing him take on ROC’s best in December.”
