2025 Race of Champions lands in Sydney

Accor Stadium transformed into technical 1km racing circuit in a first for ROC and Australia.

Photo: Getty Images

Australia’s spiritual home of rugby league is being transformed into a playground for some of the world’s best drivers, as the annual Race of Champions (ROC) hits town.

This coming Friday and Saturday (March 7 and 8), Accor Stadium in Homebush – traditionally host to some of the NRL’s greatest blockbusters, plus State of Origin games and Test matches – will take on a completely different look and feel.

At the time of writing, more than 100 workers were putting in the hours to lay down a two-lane track on the Accor Stadium surface featuring varying corners, a jump and even an overpass – all to test some of the world’s greatest drivers.

The Race of Champions is an annual global motorsport event that is in its 33rd running, and critically, is visiting Australia (and even the Southern Hemisphere) for the first time.

It involves 20 drivers representing nine different countries – including Australia, Germany, France, Sweden, Norway, Great Britain, New Zealand, USA and Finland – competing for two trophies: the Nation’s Cup on Friday Night and the individual Race of Champions on Saturday.

The 20-driver field includes four-time F1 World Champion Sebastian Vettel, F1 legend and two-time Australian Grand Prix winner David Coulthard, F1 driver Valtteri Bottas, 11-time X-Games Gold Medallist Travis Pastrana, NASCAR legend Kurt Busch, and nine-time World Rally Champion Sebastien Loeb.

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Representing Australia will be seven-time Supercars champion Jamie Whincup and reigning champion Will Brown (Team Australia Supercars), as well as rally ace Molly Taylor and two-time Dakar winner Toby Price (Team Australian Off-Road which is made). Supercars ace and Bathurst 1000 winner Chaz Mostert has also been called up as a replacement for Swedish star Mattias Ekstrom who has had to withdraw due to illness.

Participants will go head-to-head on a spectacular side-by-side 1km asphalt track in a knock-out style format. To cater to the differing driver backgrounds, there are varying machines the star-studded field will strap into including Toyota GR86 and Subaru BRZ sports cars, the KTM X-Bow Comp R supercar, Polaris RZR Pro R side-by-side and the turbocharged FC2 Rallycross car.

“We have managed to put together a challenging grid of cars for our first ever Race Of Champions in the Southern Hemisphere,” said Fredrik Johnsson, Race Of Champions president and co-founder.

“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.”

Before a wheel is turned in anger, workers have a sizeable task ahead, first trucking in more than 4000 tonnes of material needed to build the track. It begins with a Geofabric layer on top of the traditional Accor Stadium playing surface, before timber panelling, a crushed gravel road base and two grades of asphalt.

The 13,500-square metre venue surface will then be packed down for the NRL season to take over from later in March.

General Admission tickets for ROC are starting from $49.00 for children and $69.00 for adults. Tickets are on sale now through Ticketek and My NRMA Rewards members will save 30% on tickets through the My NRMA app.

The action will also be telecast live and free on Channel 10 and 10Play.