Andy Priaulx has tasted success in the Race of Champions and is hoping to repeat this at the weekend when he takes part in this year’s event with former Grand Prix driver David Coulthard in Foro Sol, Mexico City. The two-day event is on the 19th and 20th January and this will be the first time it has been held in Latin America.
This will be the Guernsey driver’s ninth Race of Champions since 2006, with his highlight being in 2015 when he won the ROC Nations Cup partnered with Jason Plato. “It is such a fun event and one I love taking part in. It is great to be pitched against the world’s best drivers and to know that we are all on a level playing field. The cars are totally different to those we usually drive, so there is always a challenge to get used to them. I have been lucky enough to partner great drivers, such as Jenson Button and Jason Plato, and another amazing highlight for me will be to share the cars with David Coulthard. I don’t think it can get better than that!”
Apart from the win, Andy has been a finalist in the ROC Nations Cup in both Beijing (2009) and Düsseldorf (2010) with Jenson Button and Jason Plato respectively. Commenting on theses two events he said: “I would have loved a hat-trick of ROC Nations Cup wins, but being beaten on both these occasions by Sebastian Vettel and Michael Schumacher is not a disgrace.” In the individual Race of Champions he was a semi-finalist three times in 2007, 2008 and 2010.
The event was created in 1988 and has travelled all over the world in those 30 years. The Foro Sol, where it is based this year, is s a sports and concert venue built in 1993 inside the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez where the Mexican Grand Prix is held. This year’s timetable has the ROC Nations Cup competed for on Saturday with drivers pairing up in teams based on nationality and the title of the ‘World’s Fastest Nation” up for grabs. On Sunday it is the Race of Champions itself when it is for individual glory.
