Felipe Massa will host some of his Formula 1 mates for the International Challenge of the Go-Kart Champs, a race the Ferrari ace is promoting for the second year in a row in Brazil, this time on Saturday and Sunday at the Kartodromo Internacional dos Ingleses, in Florianopolis, 700 km south of São Paulo.

A strong (25) field, among them Rubens Barrichello, Vitantonio Liuzzi, Robert Doornbos, Tiago Monteiro, Nelson Piquet Jr, Ricardo Zonta, Antonio Pizzonia, Jean Alesi, Antonio Pizzonia, Xandinho Negrão, Lucas di Grassi and Tony Kanaan, will attend the event. Eurosport will show the action in Europe and a live timing service will be available throughout the weekend at cronomap.com.br.

According to the rules, the one make race for chassis (Birel), engine (Parila) and tyres (Bridgestone) will be run in a double-header format, the first lasting 20-minutes and the other lasting half an hour. The second, however, will follow the GP2 Series format, the top eight finishers starting from reversed grid positions.

To ensure that everyone is given the same chance, all karts will be picked by lot on Friday, when the majority of the drivers are expected to arrive. "I believe this is the fairest thing to do", explains Massa, who is scheduled to fly back from Spain (Jerez) to Brazil tonight (Thursday) after his last test session of the year for Ferrari.

Vitantonio Liuzzi, a karting world champion in 2001, will be the last to arrive at the circuit. The Italian driver will drive for Toro Rosso on Friday in Jerez and will miss the free practice on Saturday morning. "We are planning to give him at least 30 minutes of extra time before the qualifying session so he can get used to the track and the kart," explained Massa, adding that the 2006 FIA GT2 world champion Jaime Melo Jr. was the last minute entry.

The official entry list:

Felipe Massa, Rubens Barrichello, Vitantonio Liuzzi, Robert Doornbos, Tiago Monteiro, Nelson Piquet Jr, Ricardo Zonta, Antonio Pizzonia, Enrique Bernoldi, Jean Alesi, Tony Kanaan, Felipe Giaffone, Vitor Meira, Xandinho Negrão, Lucas di Grassi, Alexandre Barros (MotoGP), João Paulo Oliveira, Jaime Melo Jr, Tarso Marques (Brazilian Stock Car), Luciano Burti (Brazilian Stock Car), Giuliano Losacco (Brazilian Stock Car), Cacá Bueno (Brazilian Stock Car), Popó Bueno (Brazilian Stock Car), Marcos Gomes (Brazilian Stock Car) and Hoover Orsi (Brazilian Stock Car).

Ttimetable (local):

Saturday, December 16th

10:00 – 10:45: Free Practice 1 (1st Group)
11:00 – 11:45: Free Practice 1 (2nd Group)
12:00 – 12:45: Free Practice 2 (1st Group)
13:00 – 13:45: Free Practice 2 (2nd Group)
15:00 – 15:20: Qualifying (1st Group)
15:40 – 16:00: Qualifying (2nd Group)
16:30: Top Qualifying (5 + 5)

Sunday, December 17th

09:00: Warm Up
09:30: Drivers Parade
10:00: Official Ceremony
10:30: 1st Race (20 minutes + one lap) + podium
15:00: 2nd Race (30 minutes + one lap) + podium