Jacques Villeneuve will not compete in the 24 Hours of Maine. The former F1 world champion and Indy 500 winner is believed to be one of the first drivers for Floyd Vanwall Racing alongside Tom Dillmann and Esteban Guerrieri, but the team has announced that he will be replaced by Tristan Vautier.
“We think that Jacques is not ready to face the Cenomanian at the time. His wife is expecting a child at the beginning of June and this is his main concern. And he is also short in pace. Le Cenomanian is a big race and we cannot risk it, so we decided to have another driver Tristan Vautier,” said Colin Kolles.
Vautier has a wealth of IMSA experience, captured at the Sebring 12 Hours. This year he is running the ELMS with Team Algarve.
The fact that Villeneuve had two incidents with two Ferrari GTs, one in the prologue of the season, the other in Spa, as well as the exit of the Portimao track with an exploded broken disc may also trigger a change.
It is the case that Villeneuve recently took part in the pre-test in Genoa that Vanwall carried out in Monza, so the decision came as a surprise.
“I think this is the best option for us. We need a solid result at Genoa. We never know what can happen in a race, but my obligation is to minimize the risks,” Kolles told Sportscar365. For this reason, the Vautier team looked at offering the wheel to their support driver Esteban Muth, because he had not done many kilometers in the car and had no experience in traffic as dense as Le Mans.
Jacques is thus left without the possibility of trying to achieve the “Triple Crown”, although it is clear that the chances of doing so at Vanwallia seem so small as to be almost nil.
