Felipe Massa has retained his position as 'best Latin-American race driver' after finishing fourth in last year's closely-fought
Formula One world championship battle.
The
Ferrari pilot was elected into top spot, ahead of rivals including NASCAR convert
Juan Pablo Montoya and IndyCar frontrunner Tony Kanaan, by a panel of 64 journalists from across South America, capturing more than half the votes cast. Montoya scooped second spot after claiming rookie of the year honours in NASCAR's Nextel Cup, while GP2 title protagonist Lucas di Grassi and World Series by Renault's Salvador Duran shared third spot.
Kanaan, after a tough season, was only fifth, but comfortably out-pointed his nearest on-track rival, Helio Castroneves, while former Under-21 title winner
Nelson Piquet Jr also finished outside the top ten after a year on the sidelines testing for
Renault.
Massa's honour is the third for Brazil in the six years of the award, with Kanaan taking the other, but he still trails three-time winner Montoya in the personal stakes.
The rest of the top ten comprised Argentine rally ace Gabriel Pozzo, Champ Car Atlantic champion Rafael Matos, GT racer Jaime Melo Jr, WTCC title contender Augusto Farfus Jr and rally specialist Roberto Sánchez. Memo Rojas, Pastor Maldonado, José María López and Roberto Streit all joined Castroneves and Piquet in the lower reaches of the voting.
Formula One also triumphed in the 'best event' category, with the season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix - which saw three drivers going for the world title - comfortably beating off rivals from rallying, touring cars and NASCAR.
