Last minute change of venue for the 2011 Race of Champions

Ridiculous as it might sound, the 2011 Race of Champions which was due to be held at Frankfurt’s Commerzbank-Arena on December 3-4, has been forced to find another venue due to a clash with the home team’s football schedule..

Germany’s football Bundesliga announced its latest schedule of matches today (June 21st) and since football team Eintracht Frankfurt, which plays its home games at the Commerzbank-Arena, was relegated to the Bundesliga second division in May, their season now starts two weeks earlier.

The final of the FIFA Women’s World Cup is also taking place at the stadium on July 17 so the team must start the season with an away game. Furthermore, riots at the final game of last season mean that special care has been taken with their fixtures. The result is that Eintracht Frankfurt will host home football games both on the scheduled race weekend (December 3-4) and its backup (December 10-11).

Race organiser Fredrik Johnsson said: “This news came through very late and it was a total surprise for us. So our first priority is to find the best possible alternative venue and to apologise to all the race fans who have made plans to join us in Frankfurt. They will have a choice of a special offer to compensate them or to be reimbursed in full if they cannot join us at the new venue. We hope to announce the replacement shortly and we can assure everyone that the Race Of Champions will still be held in Germany in December. We’ve checked with the drivers and both Sebastian Vettel and Michael Schumacher have confirmed that they will be with us regardless.”

The Race Of Champions is an annual end-of-season competition that brings together the world’s greatest drivers from all motor sport’s disciplines – including Formula 1, world rally, touring cars, Le Mans and NASCAR – and sets them free to battle head-to-head in identical machinery.

To get further information about tickets and refunds for Frankfurt ticket-holders, visit the RoC website www.raceofchampions.com, where details of the new venue will also be announced.