Jacques Villeneuve is working on various deals for the future, notably trying to get a solid deal in either NASCAR or the Australian V8 Supercar Series. Jacques’s desire to become a Formula 1 team owner is still in the background but there have not been any rumours about him and his backers buying any of the existing teams, as as the plan after the FIA refused his application for the 13th entry in September.
Since then Villeneuve has raced in the Gold Coast 600, sharing a Bottle-O Ford Falcon with Paul Dumbrell, the pair finishing fifth in one of the three events.
The latest news is that the 1997 World Champion will join Olivier Panis in a Skoda Fabia for the 2010-2011 Trophée Andros ice racing series, which kicks off next weekend in Val Thorens, 7,500 ft up in the Alps. Villeneuve will also race at Alpe d’Huez (December 17-18), Saint Dié des Vosges (January 23) and Super Besse (January 29). It is possible that he will also take part in the Superfinale at the Stade de France in Paris on March 5, but that depends on his racing programme for 2011. Amongst the opposition will be Alain Prost in a Dacia Duster, Romain Grosjean in a Renault Clio and Franck Lagorce in another Skoda.
I don’t think that Villeneuve deserves a place in F1 or in any other serious racing series. Neither as a driver, nor as a team principal / owner. He seemed to be ready to join the hilarious Stefan GP project. He admitted working together with Durango, which was not able to compete in GP2, let alone F1. His column in F1 Racing magazine is amateurish and simply not worthy of publishing. Villeneuve seems to me as someone who lacks the popularity that he once had so he desperately tries to get in the spotlight by any means.
I’m still a big fan of Jacques.
Personally I’d love to see him in the V8s, it’s a fantastic series, although one wonders if he would be willing to relocate to Australia vs. being closer to home with NASCAR?
JV is so past his sell-by date, even the discount stores aren’t buying. This is a guy who had the best financial deal in F1 history at BAR yet clearly didn’t even try for 4 or 5 seasons. Anybody who would work with him, partner with him, or hire him to do anything other than wait on tables has completely lost the plot.
I wonder if he picked up any ice racing skills from Dad – who I believe was world snowmobile champion before he started motor racing.
You may recall that Jacques’ father Gilles used to race snowmobiles in throughout Canada in some of the more out-of-the way places like Beausejour, Manitoba, as well as doing formula Atlantic during the summer. It’s not surprising that Jacques would have the same “bug” to do various types of racing like his father, albeit on a slightly more expensive scale, which also makes sense because he has a lot more money. Whatever you think about Jacques, he is game to race!
I don’t think money was ever the problem at BAR JBUSA, they just never had the right team to put together a good car. All the best engineers were at other teams and if you built a poor car you were stuck with it.
Still the same today but now the best engineers seemed to have developed a thirst for a challenge, Newey to new boys Red Bull, Brawn to Honda (then obviously sticking with it), Gascoyne to Team Lotus.
Dear all
Re: the Gold Coast 600- please bear in mind that overseas drivers were mandated by v8 supercars- something, if I recall correctly, which the Queensland Govt (who splash the money out for this bit of bread and circi) pushed fairly hard for. If enough money crossed their palms, V8Supercars would agree to a race with drivers riding camels.
It should be compared with the 1000km race at Mt Panorama, Bathurst, where, because it’s the teams’ call, o/s drivers were relatively few.
The Dumbrell car was quite competitive (he won his first round at Sandown a week or so ago, deservedly)
Jacques put in a reasonably good drive, not an easy task in an unfamiliar vehicle, in a concrete canyon, in a parity formula. Nevrtheless, he was not the best of the o/s contingent, and, Jacques’ interest in V8Supercars does not seem to be reciprocated by the teams. The local motorsport journals, such as they are, have published on this, but, a headline is a headline, isn’t it?
I concur with Girts- I suspect that he is suffering something akin to Relevance Deprivation Syndrome. Don’t know if his column in f1 Racing is that bad, but it isn’t up there with the best, either.
Still, can’t help but like him, just because he’s Jacques, with all the individuality and eccentricity that comes with it.
Cheers
MarkR
I get the fact that Jacques is a former world champion, but that was several years ago, and I do not understand why he continues to spark interest in racing circles. He has tried, and failed, to return to F1 more than once. His drives in a Renault and later a BMW were not stellar. Usually he blames the team or the design of the car for not suiting his style. He has attempted to start a stock car career but could not gain any traction (sorry for the pun). He has talked of owning an F1 team but has nothing to show for it. Ice racing looks like fun but it’s a decidedly smaller stage than he is used to. I just don’t get the media’s continued interest. If he had a bubbly fun personality, maybe, but this is JV we’re talking about here. Can anyone explain this?
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