NOVEMBER 11, 2004

Back to Brazil, back to karting

This weekend in Sao Paulo Rubens Barrichello, Antonio Pizzonia, Juan Pablo Montoya, Felipe Massa, Luciano Burti and David Coulthard are all scheduled to compete in the annual Granja 500 karting event at the Granja Viana kart circuit. There will be 74 teams competing this year, in the eighth Granja 500, and among the other entries will be IRL champion Tony Kanaan and runner-up Dan Wheldon as well as Vitor Meira and Felipe Giaffone. Champ Car will provide Mario Haberfeld and possibly Oriol Servia. in addition there will be veteran Roberto Moreno, brothers Rodrigo and Ricardo Sperafico and virtually all Brazilian rising stars from karting and entry level single-seaters. The charity event begins at midnight on November 13 and will consist of 644 laps of the 20-turn, 7/8-mile track, whicis owned and run by the Giaffone family. Last year the race was won by Christian Fittipaldi, Mario Haberfeld and Costa Rican kart racer Charles Fonseca and they will be defending their title this year. It is expected that among the entry there will also be US rising stars Matt Jaskol and Graham Rahal (son of Bobby) who are currently racing in Formula BMW in the US.

The event is now so popular that it is covered by all the major Brazilian networks with the local TV stations showing up to 10 hours of live coverage!