Vettel, Hakkinen among first names for 2023 Race of Champions in Sweden
Four-time Formula 1 world champion Sebastian Vettel and two-time F1 champion Mika Hakkinen are among the names announced for the 2023 Race of Champions, which returns to the north of Sweden in January.
The end-of-season event will again take place on a circuit of snow and ice laid out on the frozen Baltic Sea, with the date for ROC's second visit to Sweden set at 28 and 29 January.
Last winter ROC headed to the seaside resort of Pite Havsbad for the first time, with World Rally Championship legend Sebastien Loeb beating Aston Martin F1 driver Vettel to the individual trophy of Champion of Champions.
Vettel, also a previous winner and a six-time ROC Nations Cup winner, will now return to the event near the Arctic Circle as one of the first six drivers announced on Wednesday.
It is set to be the German's first participation in a racing event after his impending retirement from Formula 1 in December.
“I can’t think of a better place for my first race after I retire from Formula 1 than the Race of Champions," Vettel said.
"This will be my 11th appearance, and I keep coming back because it’s a special event, and so much fun.
"I don’t have much experience of racing on snow and ice, so it made for a steep learning curve in Sweden earlier this year – and a very pleasant surprise to reach the individual final against Sebastien Loeb.
"Now I can’t wait to come back and give ROC-style ice racing another try and hopefully help Team Germany win another ROC Nations Cup title.”
Podium: Race winner Oliver Solberg, Petter Solberg, 2nd Jimmie Johnson, Colton Herta, Fredrik Johnsson, RoC
Photo by: Race of Champions
Vettel will again face fellow F1 great Hakkinen, who was a firm fan favourite at this year's event.
“I made my first appearance at the Race of Champions earlier this year and I’m delighted to be coming back again," said the 1998 and 1999 world champion with McLaren.
"This event has a great atmosphere, it’s fantastic to meet up with so many great drivers and everyone in the organisation does a great job.
"I’ve done the Arctic Rally a few times, so I have at least driven on ice before. Here’s hoping that can help me out this time…”
This year's Nations Cup winners Petter and Oliver Solberg will defend their title after Team Norway's father-and-son pairing defeated Team USA's Jimmie Johnson and Colton in the 2022 final.
Four-time World Rally Champion Johan Kristoffersson also makes a return on home soil after previously falling to fellow Swede Mattias Ekstrom in the quarterfinals.
Jamie Chadwick, who is nearing a third consecutive W Series title, will also make her second ROC appearance in Pite Havsbad.
More drivers will be added to the roster in the coming weeks and months.
Related video
Motorsport.tv guide: What's on 10-11 September weekend?
Ford unveils new Mustang for future racing projects
Diriyah E-Prix: Buemi claims pole in 100th Formula E start
Sebastien Buemi claimed pole for his 100th Formula E race, coming from behind in the opening two sectors to beat Jake Hughes in an evenly-matched Diriyah E-Prix qualifying final.
Farfus says BMW could have reliability edge over LMDh rivals
Augusto Farfus has dismissed concerns about BMW's apparent lack of pace in the build-up to the Rolex 24 at Daytona, and feels the German manufacturer could have an edge when it comes reliability.
How Formula E's new emergency braking system will work
Formula E has introduced an emergency braking kit for the Diriyah E-Prix as a failsafe should the rear powertrain stop working over the course of a race weekend.
Maserati MSG not yet "consistently fast" with Gen3 FE car – Mortara
Edoardo Mortara says the Maserati MSG outfit still has to understand how to be "consistently fast" with the Gen3 Formula E car following a difficult Mexico City E-Prix.
The plug in and play stand-ins who got their timing just right
Nyck de Vries’s Italian GP exploits weren’t the first post-eleventh-hour call-up in motorsport history, and won’t be the last either. Here are some offbeat tales from the past
Why romanticism isn't the key factor in Lola’s racing return
The iconic Lola name is being relaunched after it was taken over by new ownership. Part of that reboot is a planned return to racing, though the exact details of this are still to be finalised - though its new owner does have a desire to bring the brand back to the Le Mans 24 Hours. But romanticism doesn't appear to be the driving force behind this renewed project...
Rating the best drivers of the century so far
Autosport's Top 50 feature has been a staple of the magazine for the past two decades since its first appearance in 2002. Here are the drivers that have featured most prevalently during that time
The best motorsport moments of 2021
Motorsport produced one of its greatest years of all-time in 2021 despite a backdrop of ongoing COVID-19 challenges and an ever-changing racing landscape. Through the non-stop action Motorsport.com has collected the finest moments from the past 12 months to highlight the incredible drama and joy motorsport generates.
The racing comeback artists who resurrected long-dormant careers
Making it in motorsport can be tough, and sometimes drivers move elsewhere before their best chance arrives. Here are some of those who made it back
The one-time Schumacher rival rebooting his career Down Under
Joey Mawson made waves in the middle of the last decade, beating future Haas Formula 1 driver Mick Schumacher - among other highly-rated talents - to the 2016 German F4 title. A run in F1's feeder GP3 category only caused his career to stall, but now back in Australia Mawson's S5000 title success has set that to rights
Why Todt’s FIA successor could be cut from the same cloth
Jean Todt has signalled that he will not stand for re-election as FIA president. Mark Gallagher analyses the strong credentials of one potential successor…
The lesson football’s would-be wreckers could learn from racing
OPINION: The greed-driven push for a European Super League that threatened to tear football apart is collapsing at the seams. Motor racing's equivalent, the football-themed Superleague Formula series of 2008-11, was everything that the proposed ESL never could be.
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.