Desafio Internacional das Estrelas

Rubens Barrichello took overall victory in the International Challenge of Go-Kart Champions on Sunday, 30 November, a charity race organised by his Brazilian compatriot and fellow Formula 1 star Felipe Massa.

Barrichello held off stiff competition from a field that included Michael Schumacher, Massa and Lucas di Grassi – as well as a host of big names from other motorsports such as NASCAR's Jeff Gordon.

The annual event took place over two races and in front of a 12,000 strong crowd at the Ingleses kart track in Florianopolis, Brazil.

Barrichello won the first race from di Grassi, but only after his ex-Ferrari team-mate Schumacher span out from a promising second position.

Massa then took victory in race two but couldn’t stop Barrichello taking the overall honours; a fifth place finish was enough for the Honda driver to pip di Grassi by a single point in the final standings.

Barrichello and di Grassi are two of the drivers fighting over a drive at Honda next year, Barrichello having raced there since 2006 while di Grassi took part in an evaluation test at Barcelona earlier this month.

The pair fought wheel-to-wheel in both races, but it was the veteran of 270 Formula 1 races who finished on top.

Last year’s event winner Schumacher could only manage eighth overall, after a combination of his mistake in race one and a loose exhaust early in race two ruled him out of contention.

Other ex-Formula 1 drivers present were Luciano Burti, Antonio Pizzonia, Ferrari test driver Luca Badoer and Force India’s third driver Vitantonio Luizzi.

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pic 1: Felipe Massa International Challenge of Go-Kart Champions - All the Drivers
pic 2: Filipe massa

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pic 1: Vitantonio Luizzi
pic 2: Tony Kanaan

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pic 1: Michael Schumacher
pic 2: Felipe Massa International Challenge of Go-Kart Champions - Luca DiGrassi, Rubens Barichello and FIlipe Massa

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pic 1: Felipe Giafonne
pic 2: Felipe Massa International Challenge of Go-Kart Champions - Start

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pic 1: Drivers on the pick up truck
pic 2: Michael Schumacher kart