Race Of Champions Comes to Wellington: A Historic Motorsport Event

Motorsport’s travelling circus is heading to Wellington, and this time it’s bringing royalty.

The Race Of Champions, the made-for-purists showdown that has pitted world champions against each other for decades, will land in New Zealand for the first time in 2027, turning Wellington’s “Cake Tin” into a high-octane amphitheatre.

On 9 and 10 January, Hnry Stadium will swap football lines for racing curbs as a purpose-built tarmac circuit is laid inside the venue. Where fans usually watch Wellington Phoenix grind through an A-League fixture, they will instead see some of the most decorated drivers on the planet go head-to-head in identical machinery.

And the names already locked in are heavyweight.

Four-time Formula 1 world champion Sebastian Vettel will make the trip, as will current F1 driver for Cadillac, Valtteri Bottas. Local hero Hayden Paddon, the rally star who has carried the New Zealand flag on the world stage, is also confirmed and will be one of the standard-bearers for the host nation.

For Vettel, it is more than just another event on a packed calendar. It is a return he actively pushed for.

Before ROC Sydney, the German squeezed in a first visit to New Zealand and left captivated by the place. He admitted he jokingly urged organisers to bring the next Race Of Champions there, such was the impression the country made on him. Now, with Wellington confirmed, he gets his wish.

He spoke of being “blown away by the beauty of the country” and is relishing the chance to line up against “so many other Champions from across the globe” while using the trip to see more of New Zealand. A four-time F1 champion chasing tenths around a temporary track inside a football stadium is exactly the kind of theatre the event thrives on.

For Paddon, this is personal. A homecoming wrapped in horsepower.

He called it a huge honour to be part of ROC on New Zealand soil and described it as “amazing” to see one of the world’s most spectacular motorsport events finally arrive in his backyard. With Kiwi drivers thriving across multiple disciplines, he framed this as a fitting celebration of what he described as a golden age for New Zealand motorsport.

“It’s really a historic event for so many reasons,” he said, stressing how proud he is to play his part.

The final shape of Team New Zealand is still to be confirmed, and that is where the intrigue grows. Paddon’s teammate is yet to be announced, but the wish list reads like a roll call of modern Kiwi greats: Liam Lawson from the F1 fringes, NASCAR’s triple champion Shane van Gisbergen, and IndyCar stars Scott Dixon and Scott McLaughlin are all being talked about as potential partners.

If even one of those names joins Paddon on the entry sheet, local fans will have a home line-up to rival any ROC field in recent memory.

The transformation of Hnry Stadium will be swift. As soon as Wellington Phoenix finish their A-League clash with Newcastle Jets on 2 January, construction crews will move in to start building the circuit. In a matter of days, the venue will switch from football to a compact, technical racing layout designed to showcase driver skill over machinery advantage.

Government backing underlines the scale of the occasion. Tourism and hospitality minister Louise Upston hailed the Race Of Champions as a one-off event that will draw motorsport fans from across the country and sharpen Wellington’s reputation for staging major occasions that linger in the memory.

Organisers have pitched ticket prices to pull in a broad crowd. Day passes start at $49, with weekend tickets from $74, and pre-sale registration is already open. Fans who sign up will get first access when pre-sales go live on Monday, 21 September, before general admission opens the following day, Tuesday, 22 September.

By then, more star names are likely to be confirmed, the grid will begin to take shape, and the anticipation will sharpen.

A tarmac ribbon inside the Cake Tin. Vettel back in a helmet in front of Kiwi fans. Paddon flying the flag on home ground.

Wellington is about to find out what happens when the world’s best racers squeeze into the same arena and there is nowhere to hide.