Four Time Rally America champion Travis Pastrana has been added to the Race of Champions line-up. The multi-discipline star will make his eighth appearance at the event, set to take place on the 21-22 January.
Pastrana has also been a notable figure on two wheels, becoming the youngest Freestyle Motocross world champion at the age of 14. To add-on to this, he proudly boasts 11 Gold Medals at the X Games. His ability to transcend all disciplines will be a major asset to him come the event next year.
“The greatest part about the Race Of Champions is that you take all these legends and the best in the world from Formula 1, IndyCar and NASCAR and put them all together, but not necessarily in their speciality.” Pastrana stated.
“Everyone always has a shot because there are so many vehicles that no one’s ever driven or had experience in, so everyone makes a lot of mistakes.”
The 32-year-old, who also has experience in NASCAR and the Daytona 500 took on four-time Formula One world champion Sebastian Vettel in 2009 while competing for the United States. Sadly back then, Pastrana’s efforts were not enough to get his team through the final.
Despite this, he is still looking forward to his revival having been a staple of the ROC until 2011. He talked fondly about his time in the competition.
“The Race Of Champions is amazing and the atmosphere’s awesome. It’s usually after the season’s over or before the new one starts so the shenanigans going on in the hotel are pretty ridiculous.
“Some of the best memories of my life have been with these drivers at ROC. Everyone’s super competitive but it’s just about going out there and having fun.”
As well as Pastrana and Vettel, the main American team has been announced as Ryan Hunter-Reay and Kurt Busch. Meanwhile, ROC’s President Fredrik Johnsson commented on the recent announcement.
“It’s brilliant to have Travis Pastrana back at the Race Of Champions for the first time since 2011. He is a true crowd-pleaser and has been a fixture of action sports for so long that he has become a global icon.
“The fact that Travis is joining us in Miami is great news, particularly for anyone who loves to watch spectacular driving.”
