ROC China 2009 kicked off in the Bird’s Nest on November 2. This year’s ROC covers three days of action and is the first time that this top-class champion in the car-racing circle was held in China. After fierce competition, Dong Hebin beat Han Han in a time of 2:05.181 and won Race of Champions. Dong Hebin and Han Han will also team up to form Team China in the ROC Nations Cup, were they will compete with Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel.

The Race of Champions is an international motorsport event held at the end of each year, bringing together the world’s best racing and rally drivers. On November 2, the events will include the ROC Celebrity Challenge, ROC China and ROC Beijing Challenge. ROC Celebrity Challenge will feature celebrities including Chinese singer-actor Lin Zhiying, Olympic shooting champion Yang Ling, and Dreamboat Team headed by popular Chinese singer Sun Nan. ROC China will see head-to-head competition of 16 top class Chinese racers including Liu Bin, Liu Caodong, Lu Ningjun, Dong Hebin and Han Han. The top 4 will compete with 4 world winners in ROC Beijing Challenge. The top 2 Chinese racers will form Team China to race against other national teams in the ROC Nations Cup on November 3. The top Chinese racer will take part in the Champion of Champions on November 4. During the events, there will be racing shows and motor sport stunt shows given by world class racers, and Zhengzhi Car Racing Team will challenge the Guiness World Record on the spot. The specially designed opening ceremony of ROC 2009 will make full use of laser and acoustic effects, strains of music accompanied by drumbeats to bring to the audience an audio-visual enjoyment.

Dong Hebin defeats Han Han to become king of kings

Two drivers will start side-by-side on the specially-constructed asphalt circuit with two parallel tracks and a cross-over point, race around the lap, and by the time they’ve both crossed the line twice they’ve driven exactly the same piece of circuit. The one who cross finish the two laps first will be the winner. The circuit this year is the longest in the history of ROC, with the outer track of 539 meters and the inner track of 535 meters, 2 times that of Estadio do Dragao, a former ROC venue.

In the opening round, 2008 China Circuit Championship (CCC) 1600cc Category winner Han Han crossed the line 1.5 seconds ahead his former master Zhou Yong, 2008 Chinese cross racing winner, to enter the next round. In the second round, 2007 Chinese Rally winner Ren Zhiguo beat Huang Chuhan, 2008 CCC 1600cc Category, at a time of 2:06.496. In the third round, 2008 CTCC 1600cc Class winner Liu Yang defeated 2008 CCC 2000cc Category runner up Lin Lifeng. In the fourth round, 2008 CCC 1600cc Category Winner of the Year Guo Haisheng lost the race to Chen De’an, 2009 Chinese Rally winner. By the end of the first half of the competition, Han Han will race against Ren Zhiguo, and Liu Yang with Chen De’an.

In the second half of the competition, A1GP racer and ex-Williams F1 test driver Dong He Bin beat Wei Hongjie, runner up of 2008 China Rally Championship. In the sixth round of 2008 CCC 1600cc Category Winner Wang Rui PK Liu Caodong, Winner of the Year of 2008 China Rally Championship, the latter won the race. In the following next two rounds, 2008 China Rally Champion Liu Bin defeated Wu Dajun, 2008 Chinese cross racing winner; Wang Shaofeng, 2008 CCC 1600cc Category Winner beat Dakar Rally Racer Lu Ningjun in a romp.