Jacques Villeneuve, after a year of shopping a Nascar ride, has finally landed in one. Sort Of...
Villeneuve, who "retired" last year from Formula One racing, will be driving a Craftsman Truck for Bill Davis Racing during a test session at Chicagoland Speedway on Monday. If the test session goes well, BDR intends to have him run a few truck races and ARCA races. The goal is to have Villeneuve ready for the 2008 Cup season. BDR and Villeneuve stress that the Trucks handle most similarly to the COT. Thus, the truck series starts logically lead to Cup racing. Apparently, Villeneuve will skip the Busch series entirely.
As Nascar requires some restrictor plate racing experience prior to the Daytona 500, I expect Villeneuve to run the Talladega ARCA event to gain experience. Juan Pablo Montoya struck a similar path last year in preparation for his rookie Cup year.
Villeneuve spent the last ten years racing road courses in F-1, driving for teams such as Williams, Sauber, BMW Sauber, BAR, and Renault. He won the F-1 Championship in 1997, over Michael Schumacher due in part to a collision at Jerez with Schumacher. The collision was deemed intentional, as Villeneuve had been overtaking Schumacher, and Schumacher was disqualified and lost the season's points. (Like to see Nascar try THAT!).
Villeneuve has had experience on oval tracks, winning the 1995 Indianapolis 500 and the 1995 IndyCar Wold Series. His last motorsports adventure was driving at LeMans for Peugeot.
Villeneuve's racing resume is at least as impressive as Juan Pablo Montoya's, perhaps more so, as he is a Formula One Champion. Additionally, Villeneuve still holds the record for most wins in his rookie F-1 season with 4, although Lewis Hamilton is one win away from tying the record.
No comments:
Post a Comment