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  V8 Supercar champion and current series leader Whincup said he was "pumped" to have been asked to compete.

Arguably Australia's best driver, Jamie Whincup, will compete against the world's best racers...

...including seven-times F1 champion Michael Schumacher in the Race of Champions.

The annual competition between the top drivers from Formula One, Nascar, World Rally Championships and other formats will be held in November in Beijing for the first time.

V8 Supercar champion and current series leader Whincup said he was "pumped" to have been asked to compete. He was given the all-clear to compete by Team Vodafone principal Roland Dane yesterday.

Some of the drivers who have been confirmed for the event include Formula One drivers Sebastian Vettel and Jenson Button as well as World Rally championship leader Mikko Hirvonen. "Talk about thrown in at the deep end," Whincup said. "I always said I wanted to do some overseas races and this is the first of many."

Whincup last month re-signed with Team Vodafone for three years after considering offers to race overseas. He said his re-signing would also include opportunities such as the race of Champions for overseas one-off races.