2020 EuroNASCAR season: Jacques Villeneuve founds own team
After his debut in the 2019 EuroNASCAR season, Jacques Villeneuve will compete with his own team next year – FEED Racing will be a platform for young race drivers
As a belated Christmas present, former Formula 1 driver Jacques Villeneuve sweetened the end of the year for the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series (NWES) fans. Together with his long-time friend Patrick Lemarie, the Canadian will act as a team boss.
Villeneuve already declared his intention to bring an own team to the grid of the NWES in October. With FEED Racing, which Villeneuve and Lemarie founded in 2018 as part of their academy for young talents, the former Formula 1 World Champion and Indy 500 winner is now taking the matter seriously. Two cars with the numbers 5 and 6 are planned, while the Canadian will drive the #5 car and the Frenchman will pull duties in the #6 car in the EuroNASCAR PRO championship.
“This is a project aimed at giving young talents the opportunity to grow and become professionals in racing. I always loved this kind of cars and races and after gaining some valuable experience last year in NWES, we are ready to take the next step,” said Villeneuve. “The EuroNASCAR car is perfect to learn the basics of driving a race car, it is bold and aggressive, it has no electronic aids and plenty of horsepower and since two drivers share the car, we will be able to do a proficient work together with our young drivers.”
The former Formula 1 driver also confirmed to the NWES that he might not stick with bringing only two cars to the series. The experienced driver would like to field three or even four cars on the grid. However, to do so, he would have to find enough interested top drivers and corresponding talent. The latter, however, should be the smaller problem with the driver academy behind his back.
In addition to his tasks as team boss and mentor, Villeneuve would also like to convince on the race track. Last season, the Canadian showed what he is capable of on several occasions and secured the first starting position twice, finishing the season in eighth place.
The goal is to surpass this in 2020: “Progressing will be the key element. Personally I’ll want to do better than last year and that logically includes fighting for the NWES championship and bring home some wins.” The Canadian also expects the same from his team mates in the EuroNASCAR PRO division, as they will serve as role models for the drivers in the EuroNASCAR 2 championship.
