Race of Champions is coming to New Zealand for the first time ever, and it’s turning Hnry Stadium into a race track for one weekend.

Wellington just landed one of the biggest motorsport events New Zealand has ever hosted. Race of Champions, the annual head-to-head event that’s pitted the biggest names in Formula 1, WRC, NASCAR and IndyCar against each other since 1988, is coming to Hnry Stadium on 9 and 10 January 2027, its first ever appearance in this country.

If you’ve never seen ROC before, the format is what makes it different from any other race weekend. Every driver competes in identical cars, on the same custom-built tarmac circuit, so the only variable left is raw skill. That’s how you get a four-time Formula 1 world champion lining up against a rally driver and a Supercars champion on even terms.

Who’s racing

The first confirmed names are serious: four-time F1 world champion Sebastian Vettel, current Cadillac F1 driver and 10-time grand prix winner Valtteri Bottas, 2025 Supercars champion Chaz Mostert, and New Zealand’s own Hayden Paddon, the country’s most successful rally driver. More are expected to be announced before January.

Past ROC fields give you a sense of the calibre this event usually pulls: Michael Schumacher, Fernando Alonso, Lando Norris, Mika Häkkinen and Sébastien Loeb have all competed over the years. Loeb, in fact, won last year’s Sydney event for a record fifth individual ROC title.

What actually happens across the weekend

Saturday 9 January opens with the ROC Nations Cup, teams representing their countries. Sunday 10 January is the individual Race of Champions, a knockout format that crowns one outright “Champion of Champions.” Hnry Stadium, better known to most of us as the Cake Tin, gets converted into a temporary asphalt circuit for the occasion, with construction reportedly starting straight after Wellington Phoenix’s home game on 2 January.

Wellington is only the second Southern Hemisphere stop ROC has ever made, after Sydney’s Accor Stadium last year.

Tickets

Pre-sales are open now. Single-day general admission starts at $49, with weekend passes from $74.

We’ll have more as the rest of the driver lineup gets confirmed.

Discover more from YouthHub

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Unknown's avatar

Published by Stephen

Director, Head of Media @ youthhub.blog ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ https://stephensun.nz/

Leave a comment!