Jacques Villeneuve will test the Vanwall Le Mans Hypercar in Barcelona this week.
The 1997 F1 World Champion is one of four drivers who will take the wheel of the Gibson-powered Vandervell during a three-day test at the Spanish circuit starting on Wednesday, according to reports gathered by Motorsport.com.
The 51-year-old will share the wheel with Tom Dillmann and Esteban Guerrieri, who have carried out most of the testing with the car this year, and Joao Paulo de Oliveira.
Dillmann and Guerrieri are the official test drivers for the ByKolles-developed Vanwall LMH, while de Oliveira, who won the Formula Nippon (now Super Formula) title in 2010, has ties to the team dating back to his participation in German Formula 3 in 2002.
The team declined to confirm the presence of Villeneuve, who drove the Peugeot 908 HDi turbodiesel LMP1 at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2007 and 2008, finishing second in the second edition with Marc Gené and Nicolas Minassian.
Upon joining Peugeot, the Canadian had expressed his desire to win the 24h after the F1 title and success at the 1995 Indy 500; apparently the French classic is still in his sights, so much so that he considers this eventual milestone a ‘triple crown’ of motorsport, which usually includes the Monaco Grand Prix rather than the F1 World Championship.
Jacques Villeneuve
Photo by: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images
His most recent experience with sportscars, after competing in the NASCAR Cup Daytona 500 this year at the wheel of a Team Hezeberg Ford, dates back to 2019, when he participated in three endurance races of the Italian GT Championship driving a Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo.
He also took part in the NASCAR Euro Series in 2019, plus a few sporadic events in 2020 and 2021.
Barcelona is the last test for Vanwall, after the shakedown on the Zweikbrucken airfield and the subsequent outings at Most, Mugello and Paul Ricard, in view of presenting the 2023 FIA WEC entry as a Vanwall Racing team.
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