The Granja Viana 500 Mile Kart Race featured a 64-kart grid that included current and previous F1 and F3000, ChampCar and Indy Racing League stars, along with top drivers from Formula Renault Brazil, Formula 3 Sudam, and Stock Car teams, in addition of course to karting specialists.
The 2002 event has set a new record of participants (around 300 drivers in all), among which were missing Ferrari's test driver Luciano Burti and Williams-BMW star Juan Pablo Montoya. They had both initially intended to take part in the competition, but ended up giving up on it because both were getting married around the time the event took place. The 2002 race, scheduled for Sunday, November 10, started on Saturday, at 24:00, to end on Sunday, at 12:00.
The favorites, Barrichello, Kanaan and Massa, did not fail to deliver the win the fans expected of them. And although they had to sweat their victory at end of 746 laps, they won with a good margin to the second place.
In the early stages of the race, there was a close battle for the lead, which changed hands many times. During this period, Barrichello was involved in a collision, falling as far down as eigth. The Ferrari driver, however, quickly started recovering, so when he handed the drive to Kanaan, the latter could reclaim the lead.
Once the Shell team got hold of first place, they soon established a comfortable advantage of 10 laps to the team coming in second. From then on, it was a matter of administring that advantage till the final flag, much the same way the Ferrari team did along 2002.
There was an exciting struggle for second place, though, which went on till the final flag.
After having established themselves comfortably in the lead, the winning team still suffered a wheel problem when Massa was driving. But he managed to control the kart and take it to the pits for repairs, so they maintained their position, despite this scare.
This was Barrichello's and Kanaan's fourth victory at Granja Viana, and Massa's second (he won the first time he took part in this competition, in 1997).
The team arriving in fifth place overall actually conquered the win for the "junior" B Category, which included less experienced drivers.
Last but not least, it is noteworthy that there were women competing in the Granja Viana 500, one of whom in the team claiming eigth place. (This eBook includes a section on women who have driven Formula One cars.)
Net
The 2002 Season F1fan-eBook 
The Granja Viana 500 Mile Kart Race
Race results:
All-time Granja Viana 500 winners:
Grand Prix & Auto-Racing Image Gallery 
Pictures + Posters:
