Although Jacques Villeneuve told the press he would be taking it easy this afternoon during the drafting session at Talladega Speedway, he ended up 11th on the time charts, out of 70 cars. This test was the first super speedway drafting session run with the new Car Of Tomorrow (COT) which will be used for the October 7th race at the same super speedway in Alabama.
Villeneuve ran his best lap in 49.278 seconds, for an average speed of 194.326, about half a second behind the fastest lap of Johnny Sauter which ran a 48.816 for 196.165 mph, more than 4 mph faster than pole speed last April with the old cup car.
Radio-Canada reported Villeneuve went out for 5 runs of 28, 26, 16, 15 and 12 laps for 97 laps total, more than half the distance of the Talladega 500 (188 laps)