Bottas to make Race of Champions debut on frozen Baltic Sea

Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas will make his Race of Champions debut next year as the event returns for the first time since 2019 with a snow and ice event.

The two-day multi-discipline motorsports meeting will take place on February 5-6 on the frozen Baltic Sea at Pite Havsbad, 60 miles from the Arctic Circle.

Bottas, who will switch from Mercedes to Alfa Romeo over the winter, will take part in the Nations Cup as part of two-man Team Finland before the individual competition the following day to determine the overall champion.

"I’m really looking forward to finally be able to compete in the Race Of Champions after watching the event on TV for many years," said Bottas.

"The fact that this year’s event will be held on snow and ice makes it even more interesting.

"I’ve competed in the Arctic Rally a few times so hopefully that experience will help as we aim to beat the strong competition, and especially our Nordic neighbours from Sweden and Norway, to add to Finland’s many wins both in the individual ROC and the ROC Nations Cup."

Joining Bottas at the RoC, which was last held in Mexico in 2019, are nine-time Le Mans winner Tom Kristensen, nine-time World Rally champion Sebastien Loeb, reigning World Rallycross champion Johan Kristoffersson, and World Rally and Rallycross champion Petter Solberg.

The cars at the event will be powered by either electric engines or using 100 per cent fossil-free biofuel, and include the FIA RXe, an electric rallycross car accelerating from 0-100kph in just over three seconds, Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport and the SuperCar Lite rallycross machines.

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