2012 Race of Champions
The field for the 2012 Race of Champions from Bangkok, Thailand has been set.
Seven nations are confirmed with one to be decided by a qualifier event. Australia (Jamie Whincup/Mick Doohan), France (Sebastian Ogier/Romain Grosjean), Germany (Sebastian Vettel/Michael Schumacher) and Great Britain (David Coulthard/Andy Priaulx) were already set with two being wrapped up today. IndyCar champion Ryan Hunter-Reay will team with the 2012 Production World Rally Champion, Mexican Benito Guerra as Team North America while 2012 Moto GP Champion Jorge Lorenzo and eight time overall winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans Tom Kristensen make up an All-Star team. Thailand is the seventh team with their drivers being decided by ROC Thailand, a four driver events with the top two representing the country in the Race of Champions.
The eighth team will be decided by ROC Asia, with either India, Japan or China advancing the the Race of Champions. Formula One drivers Narain Karthikeyan and Karun Chandhok represent India. Han Han, a rally driver, author and apparently China's/the World's most popular blogger and Ho-Pin Tung represent China, while Super GT drivers Kazuya Oshima and Takuto Iguchi represent Japan.
Ryan Hunter-Reay was drawn into Group D for the Race of Champions with Michael Schumacher, Romain Grosjean and the second driver for the ROC Asia winner.
Group A consists of the defending ROC champion Sebastian Ogier, four-time V8 Supercars champion Jamie Whincup, Coulthard and Guerra. Group B will have Kristensen, Priaulx, ROC Asia 1 and Thailand 1, while Group C will have the World Champions Vettel and Lorenzo, with five-time 500cc World champion Mick Doohan and the second driver from Thailand.
For the Nations Cup, Group A will be France, Great Britain, North America and the All-Stars with Group B being Germany, Australia, Thailand and the ROC Asia winner.
The event takes places December 14-16, with the ROC Thailand and ROC Asia on the 14th, Nations Cup on the 15th and Race of Champions being the 16th.
Lotus No More
It is official, Lotus is no longer an engine supplier of the Izod IndyCar Series. After a season of turmoil that saw three teams defect by Indianapolis, Lotus continued 2012 with only one car, the HVM of Simona de Silvestro. Chevrolet and Honda will now be the only suppliers of IndyCar and each manufacture must be able to supply 60 percent of the field. With this announcement, it appears teams on the outside looking in, such as Mike Shank Racing and Conquest Racing may be able to receive an engine full-time in 2013.
Potential Reality Show For IndyCar
According to Curt Cavin of the Indianapolis Star, a pilot for a reality show featuring the wives of IndyCar drivers Ryan Hunter-Reay, Scott Dixon and Alex Tagliani has been shot. In the article, Ryan Hunter-Reay states he is not for the drama that comes with a reality television show. Hunter-Reay states, "One thing I know about reality TV is, to hang onto the audience, you need drama. Drama at the race track - or at home - is something you don't want. Drama sells, and I don't want drama."
Despite it involving IndyCar, I agree with the champion about the proposed reality show. Nothing against the wives but the show has nothing to do with promoting IndyCar racing. It would just add to the pile of reality shows currently on the air. In my opinion, most reality shows are garbage to begin with.
Other News
2012 Star Mazda Champion Jack Hawksworth has been signed by Sam Schmidt to race in Indy Lights in 2013.
After pushing New Jersey back to 2014 and trying to get Turkey on the schedule, Bernie Eccelstone is pursuing a race in Austria at the Red Bull Ring (formerly the A-1 Ring). Red Bull's Dietrich Mateschitz purchased the circuit a few years ago, renovated and has hosted DTM races the past two season. The last Formula One race in Austria was the 2003 Austrian Grand Prix won by Michael Schumacher.
