Montoya in charity kart race
Two years after its inaugural event, the Formula Smiles Foundation, which was led by current McLaren driver Juan Pablo Montoya and his wife, Connie Freydell, the second edition of the Race of Stars (Carrera de Estrellas) will take place this weekend in Cartagena.
On this occasion the race will see a battle between drivers from the Formula One paddock and the Indycar track. Ten drivers from nine different countries will take up the challenge of racing on the street circuit in 125c.c. Easykarts, in order to raise funds for various projects supported by the Formula Smiles foundation, which is aimed at helping underprivileged children in Colombia.
The layout has been designed to provide plenty of overtaking and is located seaside, moving a few miles from the place where the race took place for the first time two years ago.
Juan Pablo Montoya will lead the group of Formula One racers along with McLaren-Mercedes test driver Pedro De la Rosa, who arrived in Cartagena, the city hosting the event, yesterday. Red Bull Racing has sent Christian Klien and Vitantonio Liuzzi to Colombia for the event, with the young Italian being the favourite to take the honours due to the fact that he has the best karting CV of all the guest drivers in attendance, having won the World Championship in 2001 after almost 10 years in the sport.
Christijan Albers, who just announced is racing for the MidlandF1 team next season, will also take on the challenge this weekend, hoping to show what he can do against his fellow F1 drivers given equal machinery and a brand new circuit. Antonio Pizzonia is the other racer from the F1 contingent, the Brazilian finishing third in the first race of stars. Still seeking a drive for next year, he wants to keep his form by racing in the extreme heat of Cartagena against some of the worlds best drivers.
Great Britain and the IndyCar series will be well represented as well with Champion and Indy 500 winner Dan Wheldon leading the American-based group of drivers. He will be joined by two-time Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves and American-Japanese racer Roger Yasukawa.
On Saturday ten drivers will be on track for Free Practice and single lap qualifying, and on Sunday afternoon they will race in two heats. Nearly 10.000 fans are expected to turn up for the event which will be televised live in Colombia and Latin America.
More information on: http://www.carreradeestrellas.com
