Fiat Automóveis has always shown strong commitment to motor racing both in Brazil and the wider South American region, most recently with Formula Fiat Uno (above) and the Fiat Palio Cup. Fiat Powertrain technologies currently supplies race engines to a number of leading European F3 championships, including Italy and Spain.

Fiat Automóveis, Ferrari F1 driver Felipe Massa and Bridgestone tyres, are hatching an ambitious plan to revitalise the face of Brazilian motorsport with two exciting new racing categories. Massa, who just missed out on the F1 drivers' title at the final Grand Prix of the year last weekend at Interlagos in São Paulo plans to put his stamp firmly on the future of Brazilian motorsport and help other young countrymen to make their way up the racing ladder, with two new categories, one in single-seater formula and the other in touring cars.

The single-seater formula championships in Brazil are mostly regional and fragmented and the South America-wide Formula 3 single-seater category is mostly national in appeal, although most budding young drivers currently make the jump, after graduating from the national karting series', over to Europe without passing through F3. The last Brazilian series, Formula Renault, finished at the end of 2006. To address this situation and plug the glaring gap, Fiat, Massa and Bridgestone plan to build a new Formula Fiat (F-Fiat) series from scratch.

It is reported that an order for 40 chassis has already been placed, with the manufacturer unspecified, although it is believed that leading Italian race car constructor Dallara is in the frame, and that a meeting held at Monza during the Italian Grand Prix weekend in September ironed out many of the series' major details. Massa's long-term connection with Ferrari could see the winners of F-Fiat offered the tantalising prize of input from the Scuderia into their career whilst Fiat Group has a long association with building chassis and engines for junior formula; currently Fiat Powertrain technologies supplies engines to a number of European F3 championships, including Italy and Spain. Bridgestone, at present the sole tyre supplier to F1, also has a long association with Ferrari.

The second series to join the mix will be a one-make championship based around the exciting new Fiat Linea. The Linea was launched into the Brazilian showrooms in late September and Fiat Automóveis has high hopes for the C-segment, 3-box sedan which pushes the brand into new, more premium territory. The Linea Cup, as it is to be known, will play out at leading circuits around Brazil and is expected to draw local stars from the popular national Stock Car series, who are friends of Massa, as well as upcoming young drivers.

"I want to do something that lasts," says Felipe Massa, "and not create something that lasts just a few years and disappears," he adds, referring to the many attempts to create a stable regional formula championship, most recently with Formula Renault.

Fiat Automóveis has always shown commitment to motor racing both in Brazil and the wider South American region, most recently with Formula Fiat Uno and the Fiat Palio Cup. It has also been involved in Brazilian rallying for the last two decades, with an unprecedented winning record. In late August Luís Tedesco wrapped up the 2008 Brazilian Rally Championship drivers' title in the N3 class, making it a fifteenth national title for the Fiat factory team pilot. It is suggested that Fiat Automóveis could wind down its two-decade long Brazilian rally involvement and use the budget towards the two new championships.