The 2009 Race of Champions (ROC) took place at the Beijing National Stadium, or the Bird’s Nest, on November 2-4. The ROC this year boasts itself for the largest number of A-list auto racing stars ever in the history. The competition is a head-to-head tournament where the world’s best motorsport stars battle to prove who is the fastest on the earth.

The ROC was first organized in 1988 to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the World Rally Championship (WRC). Now every year, the ROC gathers the most influential champion racers from top class racing competitions including F1, WRC, Le Mans, Nascar, Indy, ETCC, etc. As a major car-racing event at the end of every year, the ROC includes Champion of Champions and Nations Cup. The top individual overall is given the title Champion of Champions, while Nations Cup is a competition for individual countries. The ROC is the only car racing competition where the same type of car is assigned to all the drivers, with each machine being identical in every respect.

Organizers began this event in 1988 and ran it for several years in the Canary Islands off the coast of Spain. Then, the race moved to Paris and the Stade de France five years ago. London’s Wembley Stadium hosted the event each of the past two years. Beijing is the event’s first ever trip in Asia.

More than 4,000 tons of asphalts were used to transform the Olympic Stadium into a full blown racing track. With more space in the Bird’s Nest stadium than last year’s Wembley Stadium venue, the parallel circuit built in China will be almost 20% longer, while wider lanes will enable competitors to take corners quicker. The 2009 track will be wider, 7 meters in width instead of 6.5 meters, and the longest straight is 1.5 times as long as in Wembley.

This year’s ROC covers three days of action, with a regional qualifying round for Chinese drivers to take place on Monday, November 2, the ROC Nations Cup on Tuesday, November 3 seeing drivers pair up to represent their countries, and the Race of Champions, in which each driver guns for individual glory, on Wednesday, November 4.

Drivers confirmed for this year’s event include seven-time World Champion Michael Schumacher, Red Bull F1 Racing Sébastien Vettel, newly-crowned F1 World Champion Jenson Button, DTM champion Mattias Ekstrom, eight-time Le Mans 24 Hours winner Tom Kristensen, WRC Championship Leader Mikko Hirvonen, and three-time World Touring Car Champion Andy Priaulx.

Top racers will compete in ROC car, Ford Focus WRC 08, KTM X-Bow, Abarth 500 Assetto Corse and RX150 on a 2-lane parallel circuit, with the one who returns to the start-finish line first becoming the winner.