Lotus driver Romain Grosjean is to take part in the annual 'Race of the Star's event in Moscow later this month.

The winter oval race on ice, which is run by Russia's biggest car magazine Za Rulem (Behind the Wheel), takes place on February 23, 2014 at the Moscow Central Hippodrome.

The best Russian drivers are invited by the Editor-in-chief of Za Rulem and compete not only for the race prize but also the opportunity to take part in a demo race against an F1 driver invited by the event’s general partner, Renault Russia.

This year, for the second time, that guest driver is Romain Grosjean, who participated in the 'Race of the Stars' in 2011, while he still a test driver for Lotus.

The 'Race of Stars' is the oldest Russian winter motorsport competition and dates back to (wait for it) 1978. Since then, it's traditionally been held on oval tracks of about 1.6 km length.

The regulations of the competition are somewhere close to French Andros Trophy. One of the differences is that there's no free entry, only drivers who are invited by the Editor-in-chief of Za Rulem magazine are allowed to compete.

Previous guests of honour of the have included Alain Prost, Sebastien Loeb, Kimi Raikkonen, Charles Pic, Nelson Piquet Jr, Vitaly Petrov, David Coulthard and Jerome d'Ambrosio.

Chris Balfe