Race of Champions run for SKODA stars

SKODA Motorsport aces Juho Hanninen and Jan Kopecky will take part in the Race of Champions event in Germany next month.

Former IRC champion Hanninen and Kopecky, runner-up in the IRC for the last two seasons, will represent Team Nordic and Team Slavic respectively in the Nations Cup element of the event at Dusseldorf’s ESPRIT arena from 3-4 December. Hanninen will also compete in the main Race of Champions contest. SKODA is a partner of the Race of Champions.

“It’s an honour to be competing at the Race of Champions,” said Finn Hanninen, a winner of three IRC rounds in 2011. “Finland has an impressive ROC record dating all the way back to Juha Kankkunen who won the first event in 1988.”

Kopecky, from Czech Republic, will partner Russian Formula One driver Vitaly Petrol in Team Slavic’s Nations Cup entry. He said: “It’s been a strong 2011 for me and this chance to race against the world’s best drivers is the perfect way to cap off the year.”