NRL news: Race of Champions organisers promise to have Accor Stadium clean for NRL kick-off

As part of the deal to stage the two-day event at Accor Stadium, the event organisers agreed to build and dismantle a one-kilometre long asphalt track inside the sprawling stadium.

They have completed the first part – shipping in over 4000 tonnes of material to build a two-lane racetrack inside Accor Stadium – but still have to remove everything once the races end and restore a freshly manicured grass surface.

With the stadium already booked in for the Thursday night blockbuster between South Sydney and Penrith on March 27, organisers have less than three weeks to get the job done, but Race of Champions president and co-founder Fredrik Johnsson said they’ll do even better than that.

“We can clean it all up in 48 hours,” he said.

“We’re recycling as much of the material as possible to try to be environmentally friendly and then they can start rolling out a new pitch for rugby league to come back in.”

Taking place in Australia for the first time, the Race of Champions is an annual global event featuring championship winning drivers from different series all over the world.

Organisers have got plenty of experience of cleaning up their mess.

They have conducted races in other iconic venues including the Stade de France in Paris, Wembley Stadium, London Olympic Stadium, the Bird’s Nest Olympic Stadium in Beijing and the King Fahd International Stadium in Riyadh, in which they were the first big international event in Saudi Arabia allowed to permit female spectators.

The headline acts for the two-days of racing in Sydney, on Friday and Saturday, include 4-time F1 champion Sebastian Vettel, 9-time world rally champion Sebastien Loeb, Nascar champion Kurt Busch and Supercars winner Will Brown.

The drivers are used to racing in the biggest stadiums in the world, but Vettel said the chance to compete at Accor Stadium Stadium was special because he remembers watching on television as a kid when Cathy Freeman won gold.

“I sure do remember that,” he said. “Just because it was so emotional for her and also for the country, the crowd, it was an emotional moment.

“Obviously nowadays I understand much more why. Back then I didn’t really remember. I was 13 years old, 12 years, 13 years old. So you have no idea of the meaning. But the emotions were so powerful that that’s the moment I really remember.”