Kanaan, Massa team up For RoC.
Via CRASH EXTRA News Indy Racing League champion Tony Kanaan is the latest title holder to join the line-up for next month’s Race of Champions and Nations Cup in Paris.
The Brazilian will join an already exclusive gathering that includes F1 world champion Michael Schumacher, WRC champion Sebastien Loeb and DTM champion Matthias Ekstrom, plus over half a dozen former champions including NASCAR legend Jeff Gordon and rally heroes Colin McRae and Marcus Gronholm.
Kanaan will form one half of a powerful Brazilian team, and will be partnered by Sauber F1 driver Felipe Massa, who will bring an element of colour and showmanship to the event as the South Americans attempt to beat top class pairings from the USA, central Europe and Scandinavia.
“It will be really nice to represent Brazil,” Kanaan admitted, “When the organisers called me up, they didn’t have to finish the sentence for me to say yes. I have watched the Race of Champions for a while, and a lot of the guys who have done it before, like Kenny Brack and Cristiano da Matta, have said how much fun it is. My personal feeling is that the real drivers are the rally drivers, as they have to do well on all sorts of surfaces. I have only done a couple of events in rally cars, the Bettega competition in Italy and a rally a long time ago in Brazil, but I came second - in a BMW M3.”
A regular points scorer in 2004, Massa will break from winter F1 testing to make the trip to Paris for the stadium spectacular. He will be in familiar company, however, joining fellow grand prix drivers David Coulthard and Michael Schumacher.
“I think it has to be my aim to beat Michael,” the youngster grinned, having tested alongside the German for Ferrari last season, “But it is not just about trying to beat him - there will be some amazing drivers there, like Sebastien Loeb and Jeff Gordon. To be racing for Brazil will be cool, although, with Tony Kanaan, we have two open-wheel guys, so I am not sure how we will do. I hope we can be in the top three.”
