MOTORSPORT: Merc in Race of Champions

Not resting on its laurels with back-to-back Formula 1 world titles, Mercedes-Benz wants to end the racing year with another big bang – in the Race of Champions.

The Mercedes-AMG GT S will be one of the cars raced at the ROC at London’s 2012 Olympic Stadium on November 20-21.

Australia’s Daniel Ricciardo and Mick Doohan will be among those driving the 4.0-litre bi-turbo V8.

It will be the first Mercedes-AMG to race at the ROC, in which stars from various forms of motorsport compete in identical machinery of various types – including the Ariel Atom Cup car, Radical SR3 RSX, a special ROC car, the KTM X-Bow and Euro NASCARs.

The ROC is an annual end-of-season event which has been running for more than a quarter of a century at various venues around the world, although it had to be cancelled in Thailand in 2013 due to civil unrest.

“The Mercedes-AMG GT S is the product of exceptional engineering craftsmanship and innovative motorsport technology, and the outward expression of the essence of Mercedes’ performance brand AMG,” ROC president Fredrik Johnsson said.

“It all makes for a stunning sports car that is sure to be a hit both with the drivers and the crowds watching in London next month, when four of them will be primed and ready to take to the track.”

Among other drivers competing will be Sebastian Vettel, one of this year’s Le Mans 24-Hour winners Nico Hulkenberg, rallying and rallycross superstar Petter Solberg and Susie Wolff, the only woman to have driven an F1 car at a Grand Prix in the past 20 years.

The ROC’s two-day program includes the Nations Cup on the first night, when drivers pair up in teams based on nationality, and then the individual Race of Champions on the Saturday afternoon.

Mercedes also will demonstrate its latest F1 world championship-winning car, the W06 Hybrid, in the London stadium.