Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsLotus F1

Grosjean set for Race of Champions return

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Romain Grosjean will be taking time out at the end of the season to head to London to take part in this year's Race of Champions event at the former Olympic Stadium.

The annual competition pits drivers from different areas of motorsport against each other in a variety of vehicles, with this year's event taking place between the Brazilian and Abu Dhabi grands prix.

"I'm delighted to be coming back to the Race of Champions," said Grosjean. This is a great event and there are so many reasons that we all want to return every year.

"The main thing is that everyone involved just loves racing and driving different cars – so trying out such a wide range of machinery is driving heaven for all of us. Then there’s the fact that you meet different champions and people you don’t have the chance to meet during the year, so we all have a lot of fun off the track

"But when we get in the cars everyone races at 100 per cent – and I’m no different. Rest assured I’ll do everything to win the ‘Champion of Champions’ crown back next month!"

Grosjean was the individual winner of the competition in 2012 at the Rajamangala Stadium in Bangkok after he defeated fellow Formula One drivers Sebastian Vettel and Michael Schumacher in the quarter and semi finals respectively, and then went on to beat Le Mans legend Tom Kristensen in the grand final.

“Romain has always been a strong performer at the Race Of Champions," said ROC president Fredrik Johnsson. "He proved his skill in style when he beat three of the world’s greatest ever drivers – Sebastian, Michael and Tom – to become Champion of Champions at Bangkok in 2012. That means he is sure to be one of the racers the others are keen to avoid in the draw.

"Hopefully we can now expect a sizeable French contingent in the crowd, to add to the cosmopolitan atmosphere in London’s former Olympic Stadium next month."

Kristensen will also be back for this year's event in November, in a line-up that also includes reigning World Rallycross Champion Petter Solberg, reigning Formula E Champion Nelson Piquet Jr, British Touring Car great Jason Plato, Williams Martini Racing’s Official Test Driver Susie Wolff and former MotoGP world champions Mick Doohan and Jorge Lorenzo.

Last year's ROC Champion of Champions David Coulthard will also be returning to defend his title.

Unfortunately that was something denied to Grosjean back in 2013. He wasn't able to defend his own title at the time, as the event had to be cancelled that year due to political uncertainty in the region.

He did return in 2014 as part of Team France alongside European Formula Three champion Esteban Ocon, but was knocked out of the individual championship at the group stage.

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.