13/01/2013
NEWS STORY
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Jules Bianchi has won the "Desafio das Estrelas" the international karting event organised by Felipe Massa, featuring a host of top drivers including the Brazilian's Ferrari teammate Fernando Alonso.
At the Beta Carrero World kart track, the Ferrari Driver Academy driver won the first race and was fourth in the second, amassing 40 points, five more than runner-up, Felipe Nasr and ten more than Lucas Di Grassi who finished third.
"I am very happy with this victory," said Bianchi. "I had already won last year, but that time there was a slight mistake with the weight of the kart, but this time everything went well. It's nice to race against some of the best drivers and in front of such a big and enthusiastic crowd. I want to the thank the Massa family for everything and I hope I can come back next year to take part again."
Jules's name can be added to a top class roll of honour, featuring such names as Massa, Rubens Barrichello and Michael Schumacher.
Massa finished eighth overall on 14 points, after finishing tenth and eighth in the two races. "This was probably the hardest Desafio ever for me," said the Brazilian. "If everything is not perfect, then even a tenth can make a big difference. My engine was not at its best yesterday and I paid for that today. The most important thing is that the event is getting bigger year after year. I was very pleased that Fernando was here with us and I'm sure he had fun!"
"It was a very enjoyable weekend and I hope the spectators had has much fun as I did," added Alonso, who was making his debut at the event, and finished twenty first and eighteenth following accelerator problems which saw him retire from the first race. "Will I be back next year? If Felipe asks me, definitely!"
The two Ferrari drivers now head back to Europe for the 22nd edition of "Wrooom" which gets underway at Madonna di Campiglio.
Overall Result
1 Bianchi 40 points
2 Nasr 35 points
3 Di Grassi 30 points
4 Piquet 29 points
5 Liuzzi 27 points
6 Monteiro 24 points
7 Buemi 22 points
8 Massa 19 points
9 Meira 11 points
10 Pizzonia 11 points
11 P Fittipaldi 9 points
12 Bernoldi 7 points
13 Farfus 7 points
14 De Oliveira 5 points
15 Figueiredo 4 points
16 Zonta 3 points
17 Alguersuari 2 points
18 Senna 1 point
19 Kobayashi 0 points
20 Bueno 0 points
21 Khodair 0 points
22 Camilo 0 points
23 Nienkotter 0 points
24 Alonso 0 points
25 Brito 0 points
26 Burti 0 points
Picture Credit: Desafio das Estrelas.com