By Jamie Makin
December 5 2004

Felipe Massa got a break from his testing duties for team SAUBER PETRONAS this week so he could travel to Paris, France to partake in yesterday's Race of Champions and Nation's Cup. This was his first chance to participate in the series of races that pits top drivers from around the world against each other in identically prepared cars. The young Brazilian was excited about his chances in the event. "I think it has to be my aim to beat Michael Schumacher," Massa said in an interview leading up to the race.

The first event of the day was the Race of Champions, where each driver competes as an individual. Racing identical Ferrari 360 Modena's in the first round, Massa was indeed quicker than Schumacher on the track, winning by a narrow margin of 0.0537 seconds. However, Massa had tagged the wall during his run and was handed a 10 second penalty for it. The 7-time Formula One champion advanced while Massa's event came to an untimely end. Schumacher made it as far as the final round but the victory was taken by Finland's Heikki Kovalainen.

The final event of the day was the Nation's Cup, with eight teams of two drivers each representing their countries. Massa was teamed up with fellow Brazilian Tony Kanaan, who won this year's Indy Racing League championship for Andretti-Green Racing. As luck would have it Massa's first run was a rematch against Schumacher. Massa beat him again by a convincing 3.6560 seconds and received no penalty this time. Teammate Kanaan also won his match against rally star Armin Schwarz.

This moved the Brazilian team to the next round where they faced off against one of the French teams. That round proved tougher as Massa was defeated by former SAUBER F1 driver Jean Alesi and Kanaan lost to WRC champ Sebastien Loeb. That ended the Brazilian team's day and the French team went on to win the Nation's Cup several rounds later.

---