Jolyon Palmer and Pascal Wehrlein join forces at ROC

Jolyon Palmer

This month's Race Of Champions, taking place at London's former Olympic Stadium on November 20-21, will feature two of motor racing's brightest young prospects as Jolyon Palmer and Pascal Wehrlein have signed up to compete.

Palmer and Wehrlein both made their Race Of Champions debuts in Barbados last year — indeed they also joined forces for Team Young Stars in the ROC Nations Cup. Now that partnership will be rekindled in London next week.

Palmer will be the third British driver on the Formula 1 grid in 2016, having sealed a deal to race for Lotus F1 Team after a year as Third and Reserve Driver. Last year he dominated the 2014 GP2 Series, taking four wins and eight further podiums to see off a competitive field. Now he has another chance to take on many of the sport's leading stars in London.

Palmer said: "I'm delighted to be back at the Race Of Champions this year. It was such a great event last year but as a Brit, being in London makes it even more special for me. It's always a fun event, with some good competition of course and I really hope the fans enjoy it… I'm sure they will!"

Wehrlein is another hot property in motor racing, proving his credentials as he was the youngest driver ever to be crowned champion of the DTM, Germany's premier touring car series, for Mercedes-Benz in 2015 — still a day before his 21st birthday.

The triumphant year followed a similar dream end to Wehrlein's 2014, when he was named MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS official reserve driver. He went on to reach the Race Of Champions Grand Final in Barbados at his very first attempt (pictured) before losing out to David Coulthard.

Wehrlein said: "I'm really looking forward to coming back for my second Race Of Champions. I enjoyed it so much last year in Barbados and I nearly made it all the way. Now I'll try to win it this year after my fantastic season winning the DTM title."

Palmer and Wehrlein join a stunning field of driving talent competing at this year's Race Of Champions — including fellow F1 stars Jenson Button, Sebastian Vettel, Daniel Ricciardo, Romain Grosjean, Nico HÃ¼lkenberg and Felipe Massa, nine-time Le Mans 24 Hours winner Tom Kristensen, reigning World Rallycross Champion Petter Solberg, reigning Formula E Champion Nelson Piquet Jr, Williams Martini Racing's Official Test Driver Susie Wolff, Blancpain Endurance Series Champion Alex Buncombe, British Touring Car great Jason Plato, 2014 Indianapolis 500 winner Ryan Hunter-Reay, ROC Champion of Champions David Coulthard plus MotoGP world champions Mick Doohan and Jorge Lorenzo.

The Race Of Champions is an annual end-of-season contest which has been running for over 25 years. It brings together some of the world's greatest drivers from motor sport's major disciplines — including F1, Le Mans, Rallycross, Touring Cars, IndyCar and MotoGP — and sets them free to battle head-to-head in identical machinery.

The event is run over two days: first comes the ROC Nations Cup (on the evening of Friday November 20) when drivers pair up in teams based on nationality to bid for the title of ‘World's Fastest Nation'. Then on the afternoon of Saturday November 21 it's time for the Race Of Champions itself, when teamwork goes out of the window and it's a flat-out battle for individual glory as ‘Champion of Champions'.

In recent years ROC has visited the Stade de France in Paris (2004-2006), London's Wembley Stadium (2007-2008), the ‘Bird's Nest' Olympic Stadium in Beijing (2009), DÃ¼sseldorf's Esprit Arena (2010-2011), the Rajamangala Stadium in Bangkok (2012) and Bushy Park Barbados (2014). Now the contest is returning to its European roots at the iconic home of the 2012 London Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Tickets for ROC 2015 in London are now available via www.raceofchampions.com. For access to rights-free high-resolution imagery and to keep up with all the latest news ahead of this year's event please visit www.raceofchampions.com, Race Of Champions on Facebook plus @raceofchampions and #ROCLondon on Twitter.

Drivers already announced for the 2015 Race Of Champions:

Sebastian VETTEL, four-time Formula 1 World Champion
Nico HÃœLKENBERG, F1 star and 2015 Le Mans 24 Hours winner
Tom KRISTENSEN, nine-time Le Mans 24 Hours winner
Petter SOLBERG, World Rallycross Champion 2014, World Rally Champion 2003
Daniel RICCIARDO, three-time Formula 1 grand prix winner
Mick DOOHAN, five-time 500cc MotoGP World Champion
Felipe MASSA, 11-time Formula 1 grand prix winner
Nelson PIQUET Jr, reigning FIA Formula E Champion
David COULTHARD, reigning ROC Champion of Champions
Susie WOLFF, Williams Martini Racing Official Test Driver
Jason PLATO, double British Touring Car Champion
Jorge LORENZO, double MotoGP World Champion
Romain GROSJEAN, ten F1 podiums, 2012 ROC Champion of Champions
Ryan HUNTER-REAY, 2014 Indy 500 winner, 2012 IndyCar Champion
Alex BUNCOMBE, 2015 Blancpain Endurance Series Champion
Jenson BUTTON, 2009 Formula 1 World Champion
Pascal WEHRLEIN, 2015 DTM Champion
Jolyon PALMER, 2014 GP2 Champion

Drivers confirmed for the ROC Celebrity Skills Challenge presented by TAG Heuer:

Chris HOY, six-time Olympic gold medallist in cycling
Ben AINSLIE, four-time Olympic gold medallist in sailing
Mike TINDALL, 2003 Rugby World Cup winner for England
Ella EYRE, MOBO award-winning singer/songwriter
Joey ESSEX, British television personality
Jon-Allan BUTTERWORTH, multiple medal-winning Paralympic cyclist