Friday December 27th, 2002

Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya has been named Latin American driver of the year by a group of journalists and representatives of communications media.

39 journalists from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Chile, Ecuador, Spain, the United States, Britain, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, the Dominican Republic and Venezuela voted Williams driver Montoya as the best Latin American driver of the 2002 season, beating Ferrari's Rubens Barrichello and CART champion Cristiano da Matta.

Montoya, who finished in third place in the Championship behind Barrichello and World Champion Michael Schumacher, accumulated a total of 126 points, while Barrichello racked up 102 and da Matta, who will drive for Toyota next year, accumulated a total of 100.

19-year old Italian Formula Renault driver Jose Maria Lopez from Argentina won the rookie of the year award, beating Brazilians Nelson Angelo Piquet - the son of three-time champion Nelson - and Felipe Massa, who drove for the Sauber team last season.

Published at 09:49:53 GMT

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