Jacques Villeneuve senior

Jacques Villeneuve senior in the 2015 Formula 1600 racing car on the Gilles Villeneuve race track

Jacques Villeneuve Sr. (Born November 4, 1953 in Chambly , Québec ) is a retired Canadian racing car driver . He is the brother of Gilles Villeneuve and the uncle of the 1997 Formula 1 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve . His nickname is "Uncle Jack".

Career start

The motorsport career of Jacques Villeneuve sen. started snowmobile racing in his youth. In 1976 he switched to the road and Villeneuve was named “ Rookie of the Year” in the Canadian Honda Civic Cup. In 1977 he became the master of this series. After another year in the Cup and graduating from the Jim Russell Racing School , Villeneuve switched to Formula Atlantic in 1979 , where he was again "Rookie of the Year" in the first year and overall winner in the second year and successfully defended his title in 1981 .

formula 1

In the last two races of the 1981 Formula 1 season , Villeneuve got the chance to try his hand at Formula 1, not least because of the advocacy of his famous and popular brother. He replaced the Italian Siegfried Stohr at Arrows , with whose performance the team was not satisfied. But the debut turned out to be a fiasco. Neither in Canada nor in Las Vegas did the Canadian manage to qualify.

Originally, Arrows planned to sign Villeneuve for the 1982 season . However, after the disappointing results, they refrained from doing so.

Only in 1983 did Villeneuve get another chance in Formula 1. For the Grand Prix of Canada he was signed by RAM- March for a race. But again Villeneuve failed to qualify. He shared the fate of most of the other drivers who tried this car in 1983.

CART series

1982 was a difficult year for Villeneuve. His Formula 1 career stalled and his brother had a fatal accident in Zolder . Villeneuve finished fourth in the CanAm series in 1982 and won that championship the following year. In 1982 Villeneuve also made his debut in the CART series at the end of the season in Phoenix . Initially, it stayed with this one attempt, but after the final failure of his Formula 1 plans, Villeneuve turned back to the CART series in 1984 .

In 1984 Villeneuve contested the entire CART series at the wheel of a March for the Canadian Tire team , for which he had already won the CanAm title. After average results, he was able to achieve the breakthrough a year later . He finished the year in eighth place in the championship and went down in series with his win at Elkhart Lake as the first Canadian to win a CART run.

In 1986 he was unable to repeat these successes and ended his CART career after a disappointing year. In 1992 Villeneuve tried a comeback in the CART series, at the wheel of a Lola - Buick from the Sovereign Racing team , but this failed after two races.

Other races

After completing his international monoposto career, Jacques Villeneuve remained actively involved in motor racing until 1998. Up until then he had made a number of sporadic appearances in various racing series. He competed in the Formula Atlantic , the IMSA series and the Porsche Cup, among others .

Throughout his career, Villeneuve has competed regularly in snowmobile races away from the world's racetracks and achieved great success there (he was Canadian champion in 1999 and 2000, North American champion in 1998 and second in this championship in 2001).

In 1999 Jacques Villeneuve competed in several international powerboat races.

Others

In 2001 Jacques Villeneuve was inducted into the Canadian Motor Sports Hall of Fame .

Quotes about Jacques Villeneuve senior

• "That's obvious. If you ask him, he will answer you that he is better than me. ” (Gilles Villeneuve 1981 about his brother)
• "Jacques-Absorbers" (ironic name for the boundary walls, with which Villeneuves team boss Gerald Kersh illustrated in 1984 in Long Beach, whose tendency to hit them)

statistics

Results in the Formula 1 World Championship

general overview

season	team	automobile	run	Non-qualifications	Starts	Points	position
1981	Arrows	Arrows A3 -Ford	2	2	-	-	-
1983	March	March -RAM 01-Ford	1	1	-	-	-
total			3	3	-	-	-

Results in the cart series

season	team	dare	run	Starts	Victories	Podium	T Indy	R Indy	Points	position
1982	Metametrix	Eagle 81 Cosworth	1	1	-	-	-	-	1	45.
1984	Canadian Tire	March 83C & 84C Cosworth	10	9	-	-	CWR	-	30th	16.
1985	Canadian Tire	March 85C Cosworth	12	11	1	2	CWR	-	54	8th.
1986	Living Well	March 86C Cosworth	13	13	-	-	15th	DNF	38	15th
1992	Sovereign Racing	Lola 91 Buick	2	2	-	-	-	-	-	-
total			36	36	1	2			123

T Indy = Training Indianapolis, R Indy = Race Indianapolis, DNF = Not at the finish, CWR = Car destroyed / Accident during training

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1983	Brun Motorsport	Sehar C6	Ludwig Heimrath junior	David Deacon	failure	Clutch damage

Web links

Commons : Jacques Villeneuve senior  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

• Biography with pictures on Forix.com (English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b} Grand Prix International, German edition "Canada" 1981, page 37, SNEP / Saarbach Verlag
2. ^ Grand Prix International, German edition "Canada" 1981, page 6, SNEP / Saarbach Verlag
3. ^ Grand Prix International, English edition, number 78 1984, page 57, SNEP