- Feb 4, 2022

Reserve drivers on standby for this weekend’s ROC World Final

The ROC World Final on February 5-6 features some of the world’s greatest drivers battling head-to-head on the ice and snow of Sweden’s Pite Havsbad

As motorsport legends arrive in Sweden from all over the world, the Race Of Champions has a number of reserve drivers on standby in case of any travel difficulties ahead of this weekend’s event due to the Covid situation

The reserve drivers awaiting a possible call-up include European Rallycross Champions Andreas Bakkerud (Norway) and Anton Marklund (Sweden)

Finland’s Emma Kimilainen, runner-up in the 2021 W Series, is also ready for action, along with Germany’s double DTM Champion Timo Scheider and the winner of tomorrow’s eROC World Final

Due to the ongoing Covid situation, the Race Of Champions has enlisted a number of reserve drivers as back-up in case of any travel difficulties ahead of this weekend’s ROC World Final on the ice and snow of Sweden’s Pite Havsbad.

The stunning venue, situated on the frozen Baltic Sea just 60 miles from the Arctic Circle, will play host to stars from series including Formula 1, NASCAR, Indy 500, Le Mans, WRC and World Rallycross. And the motorsport legends have already started arriving in Sweden from all over the world ahead of today’s first practice session.

But due to the ongoing uncertainty the Covid situation has brought to travel, race organisers have a number of potential reserve drivers on standby. For example at last weekend’s Porsche ROC Snow + Ice Challenge at the same venue, three of the ten competing drivers were unable to participate due to positive Covid tests.

The reserve drivers for this weekend’s ROC World Final include European Rallycross Champions Andreas Bakkerud from Norway and Sweden’s Anton Marklund, who set the fastest time in last weekend’s Porsche ROC Snow + Ice Challenge. They would be the likely replacements for any missing drivers on the ‘offroad’ side of Sunday’s individual Race Of Champions draw.

On the ‘racing’ side of the draw the drivers on standby in Sweden include Finland’s Emma Kimilainen, who finished second in the 2021 W Series. Germany’s double DTM Champion Timo Scheider is also ready for action, along with the winner of the eROC World Final, which will be decided on Friday morning.

The first criterion for any reserve driver to be called up will depend on the nationality of the driver unable to participate. As a precaution some of the above drivers will also join the practice sessions starting today on ROC’s iconic parallel track, which has been purpose built on ice for the first time ever.

This weekend’s action features two events: first the ROC Nations Cup (Saturday February 5, 12:00-15:00 CET) where drivers pair up in teams to compete for the title of world’s fastest nation. Then all teamwork goes out of the window for the individual Race Of Champions where they fight to be crowned ROC Champion of Champions (Sunday February 6, 12:00-15:00 CET).

Watch all this weekend’s racing LIVE all over the world on networks including SVT1 and SVT Play (Sweden), C More Max and Cmore.fi (Finland), NRK (Norway), Canal + (France, Switzerland), Sky Sports Germany (Germany, Austria, Switzerland), Sky Sports (UK, Ireland), Portable TV (much of Europe), NENT (Denmark, Iceland), Ziggo (Netherlands), Abola (Portugal), TV3 (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania), Inception Media (Romania), RTL (Croatia), Cosmote TV (Greece), Cablenet (Cyprus), S Sport (Turkey), SSC (Middle East), MavTV and MotorTrendonDemand (USA), REV TV (Canada), Fox Sports 3 (Latin America), ESPN4 (Brazil), Supersport (South Africa), Canal + and Supersport (Africa), J-Sports (Japan), Astro (Malaysia, Brunei), FPT (Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam), EMTEK (Indonesia, Timor Leste) and HK-Cable (Hong Kong).

For access to rights-free high-resolution imagery and to keep up with all the latest news ahead of this year’s event please visit www.raceofchampions.com, Race Of Champions on Facebook, raceofchampions on Instagram plus @raceofchampions and #ROCSweden on Twitter.

Drivers competing at the 2022 Race Of Champions World Final

Sebastian Vettel – four-time F1 World Champion

Mick Schumacher – FIA F2 and F3 Champion

Jimmie Johnson – seven-time NASCAR Cup Champion

Mika Hakkinen – double F1 World Champion

Valtteri Bottas – winner of 10 F1 grands prix

Sébastien Loeb – nine-time World Rally Champion

Tom Kristensen – nine-time Le Mans 24 Hours winner

Johan Kristoffersson – four-time FIA World Rallycross Champion

Petter Solberg – FIA World Rally and World Rallycross Champion

Oliver Solberg – rising WRC star

Mattias Ekström – double DTM Champion and World Rallycross Champion