Stars to go head to head in ROC draw

McLaren Formula 1 driver Jenson Button and Williams's Felipe Massa have been drawn to face each other in this weekend's Race Of Champions event in London. The pair will meet in the quarter finals, while Daniel Ricciardo and Nico Hulkenberg will contest another all-F1 battle at the former Olympic Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

The individual competition starts with Round 1 meetings including new MotoGP champion Jorge Lorenzo against five-time motorcycle world champion Mick Doohan, and new DTM champion Pascal Wehrlein against triple WTCC champion Andy Priaulx.

Winners of the four Round 1 contests – which also feature Lotus F1 recruit Jolyon Palmer, IndyCar champion Ryan Hunter-Reay, Jose Maria Lopez and Alex Buncombe – will then progress to the quarter finals.

Ferrari F1 driver Sebastian Vettel's campaign starts against World Rallycross champion Petter Solberg, while Romain Grosjean has dual BTCC champion Jason Plato.

The Nations Cup component of the event, featuring a Vettel and Ricciardo match-up, will be run on Friday evening.

In a revised Race Of Champions format, drivers will effectively start half a lap apart, facing opposite directions underneath the traditional arch crossing the track rather than side by side in separate lanes.

Styled on Olympic cycling pursuit races, the change has enabled a wider circuit, with higher speeds expected.

RACE OF CHAMPIONS DRAW (SATURDAY AFTERNOON)
Round 1
Jose Maria Lopez v Ryan Hunter-Reay (Match A)
Pascal Wehrlein v Andy Priaulx (Match B)
Mick Doohan v Jorge Lorenzo (Match C)
Alex Buncombe v Jolyon Palmer (Match D)

Quarter-finals
Sebastian Vettel v Petter Solberg
Daniel Ricciardo v Nico Hulkenberg
Jenson Button v Felipe Massa
David Coulthard v Susie Wolff
Tom Kristensen v Nelson Piquet Jr
Romain Grosjean v Jason Plato
Winner Match A (Lopez/Hunter-Reay) v Winner Match B (Wehrlein/Priaulx)
Winner Match B (Doohan/Lorenzo) v Winner Match D (Buncombe/Palmer)

NATIONS CUP DRAW (FRIDAY EVENING)
Round 1
Team All Stars v Team Young Stars (Match A)
Romain Grosjean v Pascal Wehrlein
Jorge Lorenzo v Jolyon Palmer

Team England 1 v Team Brazil (Match B)
Andy Priaulx v Nelson Piquet Jr
Jason Plato v Felipe Massa

Quarter-finals
Team Nordic v Team Americas (Match A)
Tom Kristensen v Jose Maria Lopez
Petter Solberg v Ryan Hunter-Reay

Team Australia v Team Germany
Daniel Ricciardo v Sebastian Vettel
Mick Doohan v Nico Hulkenberg

Team England 2 v Team Scotland
Alex Buncombe v Susie Wolff
Jenson Button v David Coulthard

Winner Match A v Winner Match B
Grosjean/Wehrlein v Priaulx/Piquet Jr
Lorenzo/Palmer v Plato/Massa

Originally on Autosport.com