Jacques Villeneuve to race in Rallycross championship

Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Jacques Villeneuve to race in Rallycross championship

The 1997 Formula One champion, who also won the Indy 500, will join a Dumfries-based team for the first year of Rallycross as a fully-fledged FIA world championship

By Daniel Johnson, F1 Correspondent
12:00PM GMT 13 Feb 2014  

The former Formula One world champion Jacques Villeneuve, who has seemingly raced in almost every form of motorsport, has joined a Scottish Rallycross team ahead of the new fully-fledged world championship in May.

The Canadian, who is currently the only active racing driver to have won the Indycar championship, the Indy 500, and the F1 drivers’ title, will race for Dumfries-based Albatec Racing, competing on circuits which are a mixture of asphalt and loose gravel.

The 1997 Formula One champion, who impressed at a recent two-day test at Dreux, in France, said the 600bhp Peugeot 208 he will be driving “reminds me of my time in F1”.

“With my previous ice-racing experience, I’m excited about driving sideways in a 600bhp four-wheel-drive Peugoet 208 over the combination of loose and tarmac surfaces, not to mention the jumps”, Villeneuve said.

“I was very impressed [at the test] with the quality of the team, particularly on the engineering side, it reminded of my time in F1. I was pleasantly surprised by how reactive the car is to any changes, and I’m very much looking forward to getting into the events.”

Jacques Villeneuve with Andy Scott next to his Albatec Rallycross car

Villeneuve, who is famously outspoken on the current state of Formula One, said the fact this year’s Rallycross championship will be sanctioned by the FIA, motorsport’s governing body, meant it was an opportunity “too good to miss”.

The 12-round championship begins in Montalegre, Portugal, in May, with races in his home country at Trois-Rivières, Quebec, and Lydden Hill in Kent. Villeneuve has driven in Formula One, NASCAR, Indycar, and Le Mans, and the Scottish Albatec team said they were delighted to secure someone of his “pedigree”.

Andy Scott, team principal, said: “He brings with him a wealth of experience and an outstanding pedigree across all disciplines. He is renowned for his technical excellence and ability to drive any car to its limit”.

Rallycross has enjoyed a surge in participation in recent years, partly because it is cheap and relatively easy to enter and delivers short, sharp racing.

Villeneuve, 42, had reportedly been seeking a return to Formula One as recently as 2011 with his own team, but it appears any return to the sport he left in 2006 is over.

The Canadian is famous for his strong views on the current state of the sport he graced as champion, overcoming Michael Schumacher in memorable fashion at Jerez in 1997.

At his home grand prix in Montreal in 2012, he said F1 was full of “daddy’s boy drivers lacking respect”, and added that it was “wrong” that mediocre or average teams should be able to consistently win races.

Fonte: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/

Ebaaa!!! Ville de novo em ação! Quero ver o que vai dar isto!!!! Tô curiosa! haha... Adrenalina não vai faltar é só assistirem ao vídeo abaixo!

E o melhor, vou poder voltar a ver Petter Solberg competir, já que ele também está no campeonato. Ontem até mencionou em sua página no Facebook sobre a possível chegada de Jacques. Um querido!

 Beijinhos, Ludy