» Liuzzi wins Massa karting event

Former Grand Prix racer Vitantonio Liuzzi has claimed victory at Felipe Massa’s star-studded annual karting event at Florianópolis.

The former Toro Rosso, Force India and HRTF1 racer dominated proceedings at the event, topping every practice session en route to claiming pole position, which he then converted into victory.

Completing the podium was former F1 racer turned Toyota LMP1 driver Sébastien Buemi, while Massa claimed the final podium spot with third place.

Both Buemi and Massa had qualified well down the order, but each put on a charge in the race to climb through the field, overtaking the duelling Lucas di Grassi and Brazilian stock car racer Julio Campos, who were locked in their own tussle for second place.

The battles behind allowed Liuzzi to skip into an early lead, and he was never really challenged en route to winning the International Challenge of the Stars event, which was first held back in 2005.