Ekstrom, McRae withdraw from ROC

Mattias Ekstrom and Max McRae have been forced to withdraw from this weekend’s Race of Champions event in Sydney, Australia.

Ekstrom (main image), a four-time winner of the Race of Champions, has dropped out of the event due to illness, while McRae is sitting out due to a wrist injury.

The late changes have forced a switch to the Nations Cup lineups – 24-time Australian Supercars race winner Chaz Mostert will take Ekstrom’s spot alongside Johan Kristoffersson and Tean Sweden being redubbed Team All-Stars, while McRae will be replaced by Alister McRae in the Team GB pairing alongside 2014 and 2018 Race of Champions winner David Coulthard.

Elsewhere in the Nations Cup field is Travis Pastrana and Kurt Busch racing for Team USA, Sebastian Vettel and Mick Schumacher for Team Germany, Petter and Oliver Solberg for Team Norway (although Oliver will compete under the Swedish flag in the individual Race of Champions competition), Hayden Paddon and Louis Sharp for Team New Zealand, Sebastien Loeb and Victor Martins for Team France, and Valtteri Bottas and Heikki Kovalainen for Team Finland.

The home nation will be represented by two teams: Team Australia Supercars will comprise Jamie Whincup and Will Brown, while Molly Taylor and Toby Price will race for Team Australia Off-Road.

Six vehicles have been chosen for this year’s Race of Champions. The ever-present SuperCar Lites rallycross car and the KTM X-Bow will feature again, as will the Polaris RZR, while the Subaru BRZ tS, Toyota GR86 Cup, and FC2 rallycross car will all be utilized for the first time.

“We have managed to put together a challenging grid of cars for our first ever Race Of Champions in the Southern Hemisphere,” said Race of Champions president and co-founder Fredrik Johnsson. “All six cars require a unique skill level to get the most out of them.

“Some drivers will be strong in one car and not so sharp in others, but it is the driver who is the most consistent across all the cars who will put themselves in contention for victory.”

“We have a minimum of three cars in each category, so we have a little room in case of major damage, but obviously the plan is to get through the two nights of racing with all cars in-tact.”

“We have an experienced crew of mechanics and engineers on stand-by in case we need them, but the plan is for them to have a relaxing couple of nights. It doesn’t always work out that way.”