Race Of Champions Comes to Wellington: Motorsport's All-Stars Gather

Motorsport’s travelling all‑stars are heading to Wellington. For the first time, the Race Of Champions will touch down in New Zealand, turning the capital’s famous “Cake Tin” into a playground for some of the biggest names on four wheels.

The event is locked in for January 9 and 10, 2027, with Hnry Stadium to house a purpose‑built tarmac circuit wedged inside its oval frame. The day Wellington Phoenix finish their A‑League clash with Newcastle Jets on January 2, the football lines will start to disappear under concrete, barriers and grandstands. Within a week, the venue switches from goals to grid.

And the names already confirmed justify the upheaval.

Four‑time Formula 1 world champion Sebastian Vettel will lead the charge, joined by current F1 driver for Cadillac, Valtteri Bottas. Local hopes rest on Kiwi rally ace Hayden Paddon, who will finally get to contest one of motorsport’s most spectacular showpieces on home soil.

For Vettel, this is more than a long‑haul exhibition. He pushed for it.

Before ROC Sydney, the German slipped across the Tasman for a brief look at New Zealand. It left a mark. He described being “blown away by the beauty of the country” and admitted he’d half‑jokingly asked organisers to bring the next Race Of Champions here. Now the joke has become a calendar fixture.

He’ll be back in January, this time with a helmet and race suit, eager to line up against champions from every corner of the sport.

Paddon, meanwhile, will carry the flag for a nation in the middle of a motorsport surge.

“It’s amazing to see one of the world’s most spectacular motorsport events come to New Zealand for the first time ever,” he said, calling it a huge honour to compete in front of home fans. For him, this is a timely celebration. New Zealand drivers are starring across rallying, single‑seaters and tin‑tops, and the Race Of Champions offers a rare chance to see that talent showcased in one arena, in one weekend.

He knows it’s more than another date on the calendar. “It’s really a historic event for so many reasons and I’m personally incredibly proud to be a part of it.”

The full cast is still being assembled. Paddon’s teammate for Team New Zealand is yet to be named, but the wish list reads like a who’s who of modern Kiwi racing: Liam Lawson from the F1 fringes, NASCAR convert Shane van Gisbergen, and IndyCar heavyweights Scott Dixon and Scott McLaughlin are all viewed as prime candidates. Any combination of those names alongside Paddon would turn the home team into instant crowd favourites.

Off the track, Wellington is bracing for an influx. Tourism and hospitality minister Louise Upston expects the one‑off event to pull motorsport fans from every corner of the country, and to sharpen the city’s reputation for staging major occasions that linger in the memory.

Tickets have been pitched to draw families as well as die‑hards. Day passes start at $49, with weekend options from $74. Registration for pre‑sale tickets is already open, with pre‑sale access from Monday, September 21 and general admission from Tuesday, September 22.

On paper, it’s a made‑for‑television exhibition. In reality, it will be something more visceral: world champions and local heroes trading paint inside a packed Wellington bowl, under summer skies, with national pride and bragging rights on the line.

For a country in a golden age of motorsport, it’s a fitting question to throw down in the capital: when the world’s best arrive, how loudly will New Zealand answer?