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ROC at Wembley

WTCC Star Completes Team France

Media information: 15 November 2007

FIA World Touring Car Championship title contender Yvan Muller will join The Race of Champions in London this December, partnering Sébastien Bourdais for the event’s Team France.

Team France's Yvan Muller

Currently joint-leader with reigning champion Andy Priaulx, the two WTCC drivers will go head-to-head in the season’s finale this weekend in Macau, ahead of a re-match at The Race of Champions. Both drivers are set to take part in the event on 16 December, which will see Wembley Stadium transformed into a parallel tarmac race track to the delight of 80,000 attending fans.

Muller, the 2003 British Touring Car Champion, will join the prestigious ROC line-up for the third time having previously won The ROC Nations Cup in 2000 along with Gilles Panizzi and Regis Laconi.

“It’s become an important date in a driver’s season,” said Muller, ten-time winner of the ice-racing Andros Trophy. “The ROC has been going for the past 20 years and gets bigger every time. To have places like the Stade de France and Wembley Stadium host it is a huge deal.

“All drivers see it as an important weekend and to be invited means that you are regarded as being part of the best in motorsport. It means a lot.”

Yvan Muller at last year's The Race of Champions

With a motorsport career spanning nearly 20 years, Yvan Muller is a well-known figure amongst peers and enjoys the social aspect of The ROC almost as much as the competition.

“Coulthard, Kristensen and Schumacher are all from the same generation as me,” said Muller. “We used to race each other in karts and have all progressed to different areas of motorsport since, so it’s great to find each other on track again.”

Although the Frenchman regards winning the ‘Champion of Champions’ title as a great accolade, he won’t let it go to his head, jokingly adding: “I don’t think that beating Schumacher in The Race of Champions would ever mean that I should be seven-time F1 champion though!”

Editors’ Notes

Copyright-free hi-res photos are available to download at www.raceofchampions.com or by calling Andy Bothwell or Paul Rayner at Performance PR on +44 (0)208 5413434. Alternatively you can E-mail andyb@performancepr.com or paul@performancepr.com.

The Race of Champions was started in 1988 by Fredrik Johnsson and Michèle Mouton, the world’s most successful female rally driver.

The Race Of Champions event on December 14 will be made up of two separate competitions – The ROC Nations Cup and The Race of Champions.

Each competition pits drivers against each other in a head-to-head knockout format, with equal equipment ensuring races are won and lost on talent alone.

The ROC Nations Cup features drivers paired into teams based on their nationality. The teams then fight head-to-head against each other in knockout competition. Last year Team Germany (Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel) beat Team Finland (Marcus Grönholm and Heikki Kovalainen) in the final.

The Race Of Champions is a straightforward knockout competition, where 16 drivers go head-to-head until the champion is decided. In last year’s Final, Mattias Ekström beat Michael Schumacher in the third race of a best-of-three battle.

Already confirmed for The Race of Champions 2008 are:

Seven-times F1 World Champion Michael Schumacher (Team Germany)
Triple World Touring Car Champion Andy Priaulx (Team Autosport Great Britain)
Honda Racing F1 Team race winner Jenson Button (Team Autosport Great Britain)
Toro Rosso F1 racer Sebastian Vettel (Team Germany)

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