15/11/2007
NEWS STORY
GP2 Series hot-shoe Luca Filippi and F1 veteran Roberto Moreno have closed the 25-top driver International Challenge of Go-Kart Champs line up.
The Felipe Massa promoted event will be held in Florianópolis (Brazil) on November 24-25 and has attracted a bunch of first-class names, such as seven-times Formula 1 champion Michael Schumacher, Rubens Barrichello, Nelsinho Piquet, Vitantonio Liuzzi, Christian Klien, Luca Badoer, Tony Kanaan and many others.
Twenty-two year-old Filippi won the opening round of 2007 season in Bahrain and finished fourth in the standings. As a reward, he has just signed a contract to work as a test-driver for Honda, débuting today at Barcelona circuit along with Briton Jenson Button. In 2008 he is tipped to fill one of the seats at ART GP on his third GP2 Series assault.
Moreno was called by Massa to replace João Paulo de Oliveira, who was unable to attend the race due to his commitments with Nissan at Super GT series in Japan. Formula 3000 champion in 1988 and driver with experience in Formula 1 teams during his career, including Benetton in 1990, Moreno also raced in Cart Series and Indycars. Now 48-year old, Moreno drives a Ferrari 430 in Brazilian GT3 Series.
In Barcelona, where he is testing for Ferrari, Massa was pleased with the level of the drivers will be in action in Florianopolis, capital of Santa Catarina state and 700 km south off São Paulo. "Once again, we have attracted drivers of the highest level and from the main series of the world. I am sure this year's race will be even more competitive than 2006's. It won't be easy to keep the title I got last year. Everybody there can win," he said.
The International Challenge of Go-Kart Champs field:
Felipe Massa – Formula 1
Michael Schumacher – Formula 1
Rubens Barrichello – Formula 1
Vitantonio Liuzzi – Formula 1
Luca Badoer – Formula 1
Gil de Ferran – Ex-Champ Car
Christian Klien – Formula 1
Roberto Pupo Moreno – Brazilian GT3
Nelsinho Piquet – Formula 1
Tony Kanaan – IRL
Vitor Meira – IRL
Ricardo Mauricio – Brazilian Stock Car
Marcos Gomes – Brazilian Stock Car
Luca Filippi – GP2 Series
Antonio Pizzonia – Brazilian Stock Car
Enrique Bernoldi – Brazilian Stock Car
Luciano Burti – Brazilian Stock Car
Popó Bueno – Brazilian Stock Car
Caca Bueno – Brazilian Stock Car
Ricardo Zonta – Brazilian Stock Car
Lucas Di Grassi – GP2 Series
Xandinho Negrão – GP2 Series
Alexandre Barros – MotoGP
Felipe Giaffone – Brazilian Truck Series
Thiago Camilo – Brazilian Stock Car