The 2012 Race of Champions was the 25th running of the event, and took place over 14–16 December 2012 at the

Rajamangala Stadium The Rajamangala National Stadium ( th, ราชมังคลากีฬาสถาน; , ) is the national stadium of Thailand. It is part of the Hua Mak Sports Complex, and is located in Hua Mak Subdistrict, Bang Kapi, Bangkok. It offici ...

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estimated populati ...

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

.Google news article from AFP
/ref>
/ref> During the first day, a ROC Thailand contest was held with four local drivers to decide the identity of the Thai representatives. The top two drivers (Nattavude Charoensukawattana and Tin Sritrai) advanced to the ROC Asia contest, where they faced teams from India, China and Japan. The Thai team was guaranteed a place in the main Nations Cup, whilst the second spot was taken by the victorious Indian team formed by F1 driver

Narain Karthikeyan Kumar Ram Narain Karthikeyan (born 14 January 1977) is an Indian racing driver. He was the first Indian driver to compete in Formula One. He has previously competed in A1GP, and the Le Mans Series. He has won multiple races in A1GP, British F ...

and WEC driver

Karun Chandhok Karun Chandhok (born 19 January 1984) is an Indian racing driver and television presenter who last competed in Formula E for Mahindra Racing. Previously, Chandhok has competed for Hispania Racing in Formula One in . Before this, he drove in t ...

. During the second day,

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

took their sixth consecutive Nations Cup victory courtesy of

Sebastian Vettel Sebastian Vettel (; born 3 July 1987) is a German racing driver who competed in Formula One from 2007 to 2022 for BMW Sauber, Toro Rosso, Red Bull, Ferrari, and Aston Martin. Vettel is one of the most successful drivers in Formula One histo ...

and

Michael Schumacher Michael Schumacher (; ; born 3 January 1969) is a German former racing driver who competed in Formula One for Jordan, Benetton, Ferrari, and Mercedes. Schumacher has a joint-record seven World Drivers' Championship titles (tied with Lewis ...

, beating

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

(

Sébastien Ogier Sébastien Ogier (born 17 December 1983) is a French rally driver, competing for the Toyota Gazoo Racing Team in the World Rally Championship (WRC), who is teamed with the co-driver Julien Ingrassia. He has won the World Rally Drivers' Champion ...

and

Romain Grosjean Romain David Jeremie Grosjean (; born 17 April 1986) is a Swiss-French professional racing driver, competing under the French flag in the NTT IndyCar Series, driving the No. 28 Honda for Andretti Autosport. Grosjean had previously spent nine ...

) in the final 2–0. During the final day,

won the Race of Champions, beating Tom Kristensen 2–0 in a closely fought final.The Formula One official site article on the race
/ref> In the UK, the live broadcasts of the latter two days of the event on

Motors TV Motorsport.tv was a pan-European digital television channel dedicated to motorsport. It ceased broadcasting in late September 2018 to concentrate on web-streaming only. Launched in 2000 as Motors TV, it broadcast an extensive range of nationa ...

attracted a peak of 44,000 television viewers, a respectable figure for a satellite-only channel.

Participants

Champions from numerous series were invited, including

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

(

and

MotoGP Grand Prix motorcycle racing is the premier class of motorcycle road racing events held on road circuits sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM). Independent motorcycle racing events have been held since the start ...

( Jorge Lorenzo and

Mick Doohan Michael Sydney Doohan (born 4 June 1965) is an Australian former Grand Prix motorcycle road racing World Champion, who won five consecutive 500 cc World Championships. Biography Originally from the Gold Coast, Queensland, Doohan attended ...

), WTCC (

Andy Priaulx Andrew Graham Priaulx, MBE ( born 8 August 1974) is a British professional racing driver from Guernsey. In 2019 he raced for Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK in the FIA World Endurance Championship, and Cyan Racing Lynk & Co in the FIA World Tou ...

V8 Supercars The Supercars Championship is a touring car racing category in Australia, running as an International Series under Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) regulations, governing the sport. Supercars events take place in all Australian ...

(

Jamie Whincup Jamie Whincup (born 6 February 1983) is an Australian professional racing driver competing in the Supercars Championship. He currently is team principal for Triple Eight Race Engineering. He has driven the No. 88 Holden ZB Commodore, won a rec ...

PWRC The FIA Production World Rally Championship, or PWRC, was a companion rally series to the World Rally Championship, contested by Group N rally cars. History The series started in 1987 as ''FIA Cup for Production Rally Drivers'' and obtained the ...

(

Benito Guerra Benito Iván Guerra Latapí (born 25 March 1985) is a Mexican rally driver competing for Citroën Racing, a privateer team in the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) in 2013, with his co-driver Borja Rozada. In 2012 he won the Production World ...

) and

IndyCar INDYCAR, LLC, is an American-based auto racing sanctioning body for Indy car racing and other disciplines of open wheel car racing. The organization sanctions five racing series: the premier IndyCar Series with its centerpiece the Indianapoli ...

(

Ryan Hunter-Reay Ryan Christopher Hunter-Reay (born December 17, 1980) is a professional American racing driver best known as a winner of both the Indianapolis 500 (2014) and the IndyCar Series championship in 2012. In each accomplishment, Hunter-Reay became th ...

).Pre-race article by Fox News
/ref> Also present was eight-time

24 Hours of Le Mans The 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 24 Heures du Mans) is an endurance-focused sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is the world's oldest active endurance racing event. Unlike fixed-distance races whose ...

winner Tom Kristensen. The 2012 edition marked the first time drivers from

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

and

Mexico Mexico (Spanish language, Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a List of sovereign states, country in the southern portion of North America. It is borders of Mexico, bordered to the north by the United States; to the so ...

have competed, whilst it was the first time since the inaugural Nations Cup event in

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...

that there were no

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

drivers present. Reigning champion

was the only former 'Champion of Champions' in attendance.

ROC Asia

2012 marked the inaugural ROC Asia event, with drivers from a variety of championships (including

, WEC and

Super GT Super GT (stylized as SUPER GT) is a grand touring car racing series that began in 1993. Launched as the , generally referred to as either the JGTC or the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship, the series was renamed to Super GT in 2005. It is ...

) taking part. The top two drivers from ROC Thailand would represent Thailand in the event.

ROC Thailand

The ROC Thailand contest was held to decide who would represent Thailand in ROC Asia, the Nations Cup and the Race of Champions. 2001

Asian Touring Car Series The Asian Touring Car Series (ATCS) is a touring car racing series that takes place each year across several Asian nations. It includes events at circuits in Malaysia, China and Indonesia. It ran as the Asian Touring Car Championship (ATCC) betwee ...

champion Charoensukawattana and 1999

Formula Asia Formula Asia, also known as Asian Formula 2000, was a class of open wheel formula racing. The formula used an Argo chassis coupled with a 16-valve Ford Zetec 1,800cc engine. There was only one championship held in Asia from 1994 until 2002, orga ...

champion Horthongkum battled out with drift driver Nana and touring car driver Sritrai to be among the top 2.

Cars

Seven cars were used throughout the event. The Toyota GT86 and Lamborghini Gallardo Super Trofeo made their debut in this year, while the

Škoda Fabia The Škoda Fabia is a supermini car produced by Czech manufacturer Škoda Auto since 1999. It is the successor of the Škoda Felicia, which was discontinued in 2001. The Fabia was available in hatchback, estate (named Fabia Combi) and saloon ...

was dropped. * Audi R8 LMS *

KTM X-Bow The KTM X-Bow (pronounced ''crossbow'') is an ultra-light sports car manufactured by Austrian automotive manufacturer KTM. A company known for their production of motorcycles, the X-Bow was their first mass-produced car in their product range and ...

* Lamborghini Gallardo Super Trofeo * Euro Racecar * ROC Car *

Toyota GT86 The Toyota 86 and the Subaru BRZ are 2+2 sports cars jointly developed by Toyota and Subaru, manufactured at Subaru's Gunma assembly plant. The 2+2 fastback coupé has a naturally-aspirated boxer engine, front-engined, rear-wheel-drive confi ...

Volkswagen Scirocco The Volkswagen Scirocco is a three-door, front-engine, front-wheel-drive, sport compact hatchback manufactured and marketed by Volkswagen in two generations from 1974 to 1992 and a third generation from 2008 until 2017. Production ended without a ...

The track

A 697 metres tarmac track was constructed in the

. The track had a bridge to connect the outer lane with the inner lane in an 8 shape track. All the races were run to 2 laps (1.394 km). In the first day a chicane was placed in the bridge area. The chicane was modified for the second and third day making the lap time longer. Tom Kristensen made the fastest time (1:14.0680) on the second configuration in an Audi R8 at speed of 67.75 km/h.

ROC Thailand

Round Robin

Final

ROC Asia

Round Robin

Final

Nations Cup

Drivers who made a

false start In sports, a false start is a disallowed start, usually due to a movement by a participant before (or in some cases after) being signaled or otherwise permitted by the rules to start. Depending on the sport and the event, a false start can result ...

are marked with a ''Yellow card'' in the tables, and a time penalty of 5 seconds was added to their original time.

Group A

Group B

Finals

Semifinals

Final

Race of Champions

Ho-Pin Tung Ho-Pin Tung (; born December 4, 1982) is a Chinese people in the Netherlands, Chinese-Dutch racing driver who races with a Chinese license. Career Born in Velp, Gelderland, Netherlands, Tung started kart racing in the Netherlands in 1997 befo ...

and

Kazuya Oshima is a Japanese racing driver, currently racing in the Super GT Series and the Super Formula Championship for Toyota Gazoo Racing and ROOKIE Racing. Oshima is one of only two drivers that have won championships in both classes of Super GT: He wo ...

qualified having achieved the best times (among non-Thai drivers) in ROC Asia.

Group A

Group B

Group C

Group D

Knockout stage

Quarterfinals

Semifinals

Final

References

External links

Official site
{{Race of Champions years

Race of Champions The Race of Champions (ROC) is an international motorsport event held at the end/start of each year, featuring some of the world's best racing and rally drivers. It is the only competition in the world where stars from Formula One, World Ral ...

Race of Champions Sport in Bangkok

Auto races in Thailand International sports competitions hosted by Thailand