Defending Indianapolis 500 winner Alexander Rossi, as well as NASCAR racing brothers Kurt and Kyle Busch will be among those taking part in the Race of Champions Nation’s Cup on January 22 and 23 in Miami, it was announced Monday.
The race will be held at Marlins Park, home of Major League Baseball’s Miami Marlins. This will be the first time the race -- which brings together racing champions from numerous forms of motorsports including NASCAR, IndyCar, Formula One and others -- will be held in the United States.
It will also be the first ROC since 2015, when Formula One driver Sebastian Vettel defeated 9-time 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Tom Kristensen in London, while F1’s David Coulthard and endurance racer Alex Buncombe finished as semifinalists.
Rossi will head the largest contingent of drivers from any one series, as the Verizon IndyCar Series will also have Ryan Hunter-Reay, Gabby Chaves, Juan Pablo Montoya and Tony Kanaan also taking part in the ROCNC.
#TeamColombia is here! Come watch them race against the rest of the world @MarlinsPark on Jan 21-22! https://t.co/cMQJ4u9QLf #ROCMiami pic.twitter.com/1CyyXRjjo6
— Race Of Champions (@RaceOfChampions) December 16, 2016
This is HUGE! Welcome to #ROCMiami @KyleBusch! He will be reunited with brother @KurtBusch on #TeamUSANASCAR https://t.co/7JMuomALVM pic.twitter.com/Swdd3a0N8V
— Race Of Champions (@RaceOfChampions) December 19, 2016
Competitors will race against each other on a specially prepared road course in identically matched vehicles.
“It’s really cool to be included in the 2017 Race of Champions,” Kyle Busch said in a media release. “You look at the list of drivers and their backgrounds and it’s pretty impressive. I love to race anything I can, so I’m really excited to be heading to Miami and getting behind the wheel of some different types of vehicles in order to compete against the best guys in the world.”
Let's do this @KyleBusch! #ROCMiami #BuschBros https://t.co/qtZ9KpWXu6
— Kurt Busch (@KurtBusch) December 19, 2016
Among those entered in the competition and the series they’ll represent are:
IndyCar: 2016 Indianapolis 500 winner Alexander Rossi, 2-time Indy 500 winner Juan Pablo Montoya, 2014 Indy 500 winner Ryan Hunter-Reay, 2013 Indy 500 winner Tony Kanaan, 2015 IndyCar Rookie of the Year Gabby Chaves.
NASCAR: 2004 Nextel Cup champion Kurt Busch, 2015 Sprint Cup champion Kyle Busch.
Formula One: 4-time champion Sebastian Vettel, 11-time F1 race winner Felipe Massa, 2009 F1 champ Jenson Button, 13-time F1 race winner David Coulthard.
Other: 9-time Le Mans 24 Hours winner Tom Kristensen, 2-time FIA World RallyCross champ Petter Solberg, multi-motorsports series champion Travis Pastrana, 2-time Global RallyCross Champ Scott Speed.
What do you think?
— DHL U.S. (@DHLUS) December 15, 2016
Can @RyanHunterReay de-throne @RaceOfChampions champion of champions Sebastian Vettel? https://t.co/T3DDk46K7E
#OnThisDay in 2014, David Coulthard won an action-packed #ROCBarbados. DC will be back at #ROCMiami on Jan 21-22! https://t.co/cMQJ4u9QLf pic.twitter.com/FZriFt2lG4
— Race Of Champions (@RaceOfChampions) December 14, 2016
ICYMI: Catch up with today's #ROCMiami news: #F1 legends @JensonButton and @therealdcf1 are joining the battle at @MarlinsPark! pic.twitter.com/WN95NTL7oc
— Race Of Champions (@RaceOfChampions) December 13, 2016
See u in Miami! 🏁 #ROCMiami pic.twitter.com/9HOnhlTlO6
— Kyle Busch (@KyleBusch) December 19, 2016
Follow @JerryBonkowski