Former Formula 1 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve qualifies for Daytona 500 was highlighting it as one of the biggest wins of his career
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The 1997’s World Champion raced through the time trials at the Daytona International Speedway on Wednesday. As Nascar has time trials criteria, it required him to drive his Ford over three times to pass the inspection.
He posted his fastest time and qualified for Sunday’s race. In a celebration mood just like in 1997, he ran down the pitlane cheering while searching for his crew.
14 Years worth the wait
“It’s not like winning the Indy 500 or the F1 championship. But at this point in my career, the last time I tried to qualify here was 14 years ago, just to make the show is incredible because it’s a small team.” the 50 years old professional said.
14 years ago in 2008, he participated with Bill Davis Racing. However, he would end up in a crash that blew him out of the race.
“We didn’t link up with a big team to get the car ready and it’s highly unexpected to be able to make it on time. So it ranks right after these big wins.
50 years too young to race
“It’s satisfying and amazing because there are quite a few times where I’ve been hearing, ‘OK, come on. You’re past it. Just give it up.’” he described despite winning the European NASCAR series at Vallelunga last year.
The son of F1 great, Gilles Villeneuve said that the hunger has never stopped and age is not a factor while racing in the car, stating:
“To be able to make such a big race at such a high level is amazing. When I’m in the race car I don’t realize that I’m 50, which is good. As long as it carries on like this, I can’t imagine myself stopping racing.”
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“Well, the hunger has never stopped and experience is only a big help until the day where I guess you start getting your foot off the throttle. As you get a little bit scared or you don’t get that adrenaline rush anymore as a positive thing.”
“But start getting it as a negative that’s when you should stop, but until that moment experience is only a benefit.”
Jacques Villeneuve on the Daytona 500 qualification
Villeneuve, who is driving the car part-time until Team Hezeberg’s primary driver Loris Hezemans gains enough experience to race at the bigger NASCAR tracks, didn’t expect to qualify on speed and was concerned that he might not be able to race his way in via today’s Duel race.
“I was convinced we didn’t have the speed to get in on time. I thought we would then have to fight it through the Duels. ” he admitted.” Somehow the car was a lot easier to drive. It was easy to be smooth because we got in by not a lot.
“It was very, very close. It was all a matter of getting right up to speed coming out of turn two. Going through the gears, getting away from the wall to not block the air, just getting these extra few revs and that made the difference.” he concluded.
