Thailand was a successful host of this year's Red Bull Singha Race Of Champions, the organisers claimed yesterday.
Sebastian Vettel, left, with Michael Schumacher after winning the ROC Nations Cup.
The three-day tournament, celebrating its 25th anniversary, ended yesterday at Rajamangkala Stadium in Bangkok.
Even though it was the first time for the country has hosted such a big motorsport event, members of the various teams expressed their satisfaction.
"I am really happy and proud to see this happening in Thailand for the first time," Michael de Santiesteban from Red Bull said. "Many key men in motorsport from around the world praise the country for its great job in hosting such a big event."
De Santiesteban, however, admitted the country was on the learning curve in organising motorsport event _ in particular, marketing and promotion can be improved.
"We want to promote this before we host the F1 championship in the future," De Santiesteban said.
The Race of Champions costs about 400 million baht to stage, with costs shared by the government and private sector. Thailand is currently planning to host a Formula One Grand Prix in 2014.
Kanokphan Chulakasem, governor of the Sports Authority of Thailand, said many countries had praised Thailand for its brilliant work, especially in taking just 11 days to build the track in line with international standards.
"The Thai companies have done a great job in building the track while our staff learned a lot in organising such an event," he said.
Next year's edition will be also staged in December and it has already been confirmed that many well-known racers will return.
Reigning F1 world champion Sebastian Vettel, who, together with Michael Schumacher, won the ROC Nations Cup for sixth straight time,
said he and Schumacher enjoyed being part of the event.
"We all love coming here as it's a special event. It's a privilege and an honour to race with these guys," Vettel said. "There's one thing that connects us all, which is racing."
In the final of the ROC Nations Cup, Germany beat France 2-0 and Schumacher said that it was a historic achievement to win the title six times in a row.
"It was already very special to win five times in a row but this new record just feels great," he said. "We were pretty scared of the guys on Team France but in the end they lost time in the final heats so we were lucky to be consistent the whole way through."
Schumacher, winner of a record seven Formula One championships including five in a row for Ferrari, said he and Vettel would be defending the title again next year.
"For sure we're going to be here, that's a must," said the 43-year-old, who retired from Formula One for the second time in November. "Actually, my lucky number is seven so we are going to push hard."