The surprise winner of the 2010 Race of Champion's 'Champions of Champions' event Filipe Albuquerque has announced he will be returning to the end of season extravaganza in 2011 to defend his title.
Albuquerque will return to Dusseldorf's ESPIRIT Arena, the scene of his 2010 victory, hoping to replicate the stunning performance that saw him beat Formula 1 World Champion Sebastian Vettel and World Rally Champion Sebastien Loeb on his way to the most unlikely of victories. Albuquerque, who has been competing for Audi in this year's DTM series, will also pair up with David Coulthard for Team All Stars in the ROC Nations Cup.
Albuquerque said: “Last year's Race Of Champions was a life-changing moment for me so I'm delighted to be back. From the start I was up against such good drivers – I had to beat Sebastian Vettel twice and in the final Sébastien Loeb was really on it. But I just drove my race, I made no mistakes and everything went so well. I could not have asked for more. Now I know any element of surprise will be gone so I'll just do my best again. A little mistake can cause you to lose everything in this competition so I'll just try to stay smooth and see what happens.”
ROC race organiser Fredrik Johnsson said: “Filipe's achievement in becoming the 2010 Champion of Champions against such a strong field was a true racing fairytale. He thrilled the crowds and I'm delighted he's since gone from strength to strength. Of course our victor deserves an invitation to defend their title so Filipe will now have the chance to show it was no one-off by beating the world's best all over again.”