50 years and hear, perhaps, half of it. In 1997, at the age of 26, Jacques Villeneuve won the Formula 1 World Championship in one of the most epic championship finals in history. Tonight, about 24 years later, the Canadian son of Gilles managed to snatch a ticket for the Daytona 500. He did it directly from qualifying, without having to go through the fearsome Duels scheduled for tonight, which will define the starting positions from third down. There were four places up for grabs for six drivers who did not automatically qualify for the race and two were awarded through qualifying, the two best times being awarded.
The former F1 and IndyCar champion posted the 36th fastest time, the second of the six drivers in contention after Noah Gragson; that was enough to earn a place in the highly anticipated event on Sunday evening. Villeneuve beat Kaz Grala by 84 thousandths, first of the unqualified. Among the expected protagonists, however, the reigning Sprint Cup champion, Kyle Larson, won the pole position by beating Alex Bowman by 31 thousandths. The two of them will start in the top two positions on Sunday, while all other grid positions will be defined in tonight’s two duels, which will also award the first points in the championships to the top ten finishers of both short races.
He’s in. # DAYTONA500 pic.twitter.com/AzmEaQ6WC5
– NASCAR (@NASCAR) February 17, 2022
#NASCAR #Daytona500 #Villeneuve #company #qualified #FormulaPassionit