SYDNEY Former Formula 1 driver Heikki Kovalainen will make a return to racing with Valtteri Bottas and Team Finland at Accor Stadium on March 7-8, after recovering from open heart surgery last year.

Kovalainens motorsport career was put on hold after he was diagnosed with ascending aortic aneurysm and was forced to have emergency surgery in March, 2024.

Almost 12 months to the day, Kovalainen will make a popular return to motorsport as Bottas teammate on a spectacular stadium track against some of the biggest names in world motorsport.

Bottas and Kovalainen, together, will compete against no less than three other former or current F-1 drivers including David Coulthard, Mick Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel.

They will all go head-to-head on a spectacular AUD$2 million side-by-side 1km asphalt track which will be hand crafted by a team of local and international engineers to ensure maximum speed and entertainment for the anticipated 50,000-strong crowd.

Ironically, Kovalainen burst on to the international scene after winning the final of the 2004 Race Of Champions in France, where he beat both Michael Schumacher and Sébastien Loeb on his way to the title.

Two years later he teamed with Marcus Grönholm to win the ROC Nations Cup for Finland, beating Travis Pastranas Team USA in the final, again back in Paris.

In 2007 he moved full-time into F-1 with Renault and the following season was signed as Lewis Hamiltons teammate at McLaren, where he won his only Grand Prix in Hungary.

He spent another four seasons in F-1 before focusing his attention on Japan where he became a competitive driver in the Super GT500 Series. He won that championship in 2016 for Lexus Team SARD.

In recent years his attention has turned to rallying and this year he will compete in the Japanese Rally Championship with Rally Team AICELLO. That campaign will include the Japanese round of the World Rally Championship.

The Race Of Champions comes two weeks after the 2025 Supercars opener at Sydney Motorsport Park (Feb 21-23) and one week before the opening round of the F-1 World Championship in Melbourne (March 13-16), creating a massive month of motorsport in Australia.

The Race Of Champions will run over two nights with a purpose-built 1 kilometer tarmac track taking center stage at Accor Stadium, Sydneys Olympic Stadium.

In Sydney, Kovalainen will be going head-to-head with no less than:

4-time Formula 1 World Champion, Sebastian Vettel

F-1 legend and two-time Australian Grand Prix winner, David Coulthard

F-1 ace, Valtteri Bottas

9-time FIA World Rally Champion, Sébastien Loeb

7-time Supercars Champion, Jamie Whincup

Reigning Supercars champion, Will Brown

Extreme E champion, Molly Taylor

11-time X-Games Gold medalist, Travis Pastrana

7-time FIA World Rallycross Champion, Johan Kristoffersson

Former F-1 driver, FIA F2 champion and current WEC driver, Mick Schumacher

2-time European Rally Champion, Hayden Paddon

Father and son rally champions, Petter and Oliver Solberg

2-time Dakar winner, Toby Price

NASCAR champion, Kurt Busch

4-time ROC Champion, Mattias Ekström

Young Kiwi Formula star, Louis Sharp