04/12/2009
NEWS STORY
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Brazilian F1 stars Rubens Barrichello and Felipe Massa are once more the hot favorites for this year's running of the Granja Viana 500 Mile race.
The race will be held tomorrow (Saturday) at Kartodromo Internacional Granja Viana in Cotia near Sao Paulo and is scheduled to last 644 laps or a maximum of 11 hours.
Barrichello holds a record of eight wins in Granja Viana and will lead a "dream team" which includes his old friends Tony Kanaan (Indy Racing League), Felipe Giaffone (Brazilian Formula Truck) and Renato Russo, a Brazilian Stock Car Light veteran recognized as a kart legend in the country.
Felipe will line up alongside Renault F1 third driver Lucas di Grassi and Brazilian Stock Car Lights frontrunners Julio Campos and Felipe Lapenna. Massa and Campos raced together in their victory in the inaugural edition of the event back in 1997. The Ferrari ace would win again in 2002, this time joining Barrichello's squad.
Vítor Meira, Ricardo Zonta, Christian Fittipaldi, Mario Haberfeld, Sergio Jimenez, Marcos Gomes, Thiago Camilo, Osvaldo Negri, Raphael Matos, Bruno Junqueira and special guests from the USA, Memo Gidley and Wayne Taylor are other experienced drivers that will make up a field of over 200. South-African model Brittany Vorster will share the number 19 kart with local young guns Raphael Raucci, Bruno Leon, Bruno Grigatti and Carlos Murari prior to her expected debut in the Sudam F3 series in 2010.
Massa led the final free practice this Friday morning with a time of 57.892, beating Barrichello by a margin of one tenth. The Top Qualifying race will define the grid positions on Saturday morning.
All the action from the Granja Viana will be available through the address videomotor.com.br and cronomap.com.br (live timing).
The race starts at 12:30 (14:30 GMT).