2009 Race of Champions

The 2009 Race of Champions was the 22nd running of the motorsport event, on November 3–4, 2009 at the Beijing National Stadium in Beijing, China. It was the first time that the event took place outside of Europe and Africa. It was the first international sports event to be held in the "Bird's Nest" stadium since the 2008 Summer Olympics. The event was moved from a weekend to a midweek slot for the first time. The RoC Nations Cup was held on Tuesday, November 3, just two days after the 2009 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the climax of the 2009 Formula One season at the Yas Marina Circuit, with the Driver's Cup being contested on Wednesday 4, November.^[1]

The new dates affected the United States and Australia most, since it meant drivers from those countries' popular saloon-car series (V8 Supercar and NASCAR Sprint Cup Series) could not take part. Jamie Whincup of Team Vodafone was originally selected to participate but could not because of the schedule, so two motorcyclists were used on the team. In the past, the United States team has used Nationwide Series champion Carl Edwards, and four-time Sprint Cup Series champion Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson. Two X Games stars and Rally America drivers were chosen.

Mattias Ekström won the World Final for Team Scandinavia, while Sebastian Vettel and Michael Schumacher won the Nations Cup for Team Germany.