Priaulx joins 2010 Race of Champions line-up

Tin-top racing superstar Andy Priaulx MBE has signed up for the 2010 Race of Champions, to be held at Düsseldorf’s ESPRIT arena on November 27-28.

The annual end-of-season competition brings together the world’s greatest drivers from motor sport’s most prestigious disciplines and pits them head-to-head in identical machinery. Now Priaulx has joined a driver roll call that already includes seven-time Formula 1 world champion Michael Schumacher, four-time F1 world champion Alain Prost, six-time world rally champion Sébastien Loeb, eight-time Le Mans 24-Hour race winner Tom Kristensen and 2010 F1 title contender Sebastian Vettel.

Multiple World Touring Car Champion Priaulx has kept up the winning habit this season with three victories and counting. He has also been a regular at The Race of Champions – 2010 is the fifth year in a row that the Guernseyman has taken part. His best result came last year in Beijing, where he partnered fellow Brit Jenson Button to the final of the ROC Nations Cup. They narrowly lost out to Team Germany (Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel) so now Priaulx will be looking for revenge on German turf.

Priaulx said: “Every year The Race of Champions gets stronger and stronger – and this year is going to be an amazing event. It will be great to be racing in Germany with Schumacher and Vettel and so many other big names. I always thoroughly enjoy the weekend. I was told it was good fun but the racing is pretty intense and always competitive. The atmosphere in the stadium is special too. This year’s Race of Champions is going to rock…”

The Race of Champions has been staged every year since 1988, founded by IMP President Fredrik Johnsson and Michèle Mouton, the world’s most successful female rally driver. This year’s event will take place on a specially constructed tarmac circuit with two parallel lanes winding their way round Düsseldorf’s ESPRIT arena.

Johnsson said: “We’re delighted that Andy is coming back to The Race of Champions. He is the most successful driver the World Touring Car Championship has produced and he is in good company with all the other great champions we’ve lined up for November.”

More star drivers will be announced as the countdown to the 2010 Race of Champions continues in the run-up to the big weekend in Düsseldorf on November 27-28.