Carpentier to test in Memphis Monday

Still in preparation for his first oval race on the NASCAR circuit and his full season ride next year, Patrick Carpentier will test this Monday at Memphis Motorsports Park. If you ever pass close to there, press release mentions some grand stands will be open to the public for free.

Villeneuve and Carpentier testing in Atlanta

For the first time in history, and hopefully not the last, two french Canadians ran together on a NASCAR track as Jacques Villeneuve and Patrick Carpentier both participated in the Car of Tomorrow tests at Atlanta this week.

Carpentier, running in the Gillett Evernham Motorsport #10, car posted his fastest lap at 182.832 mph on Tuesday morning, good enough for 36th place out of 54 cars for that session. Carpentier placed slightly better in the afternoon in 31st place but speeds were slower as his 180.675 lap proved

Villeneuve also ran his fastest lap on Tuesday morning, clocked at 182.543 mph (43rd out of 54 cars). Villeneuve, at the wheel of the Bill Davis #27 machine, placed better in the afternoon with a 20th place out of 46 cars as he ran a lap at 181.497 mph

Villeneuve tests at Caraway Speedway

In preparation for the Craftsman Truck Series race in Martinsville (1/2 mile long, one of the shortest tracks on the NASCAR circuit), Jacques Villeneuve has been testing in Carolina's Caraway Speedway (0.455 mile race track). His team stated that, despite strong showings on the super speedways, Jacques had a lot to learn on the short tracks as it is a completely different kind of driving. Villeneuve is scheduled to run about 250 laps during his 2 days test.

Villeneuve back in the COT in Phoenix and Homestead?

Rumours have been circulating this week that, following his strong finish at Talladega, Jacques Villeneuve might be back behind the wheel of a Nextel Cup car very soon. The word around is that Villeneuve would run the races in Phoenix and Homestead and that he has tests scheduled in Nashville and New Smyrna to get ready for his next appearance in the COT.

No official announcement has been made yet.

Villeneuve tests ARCA car at Talladega

Jacques Villeneuve was back at Talladega Speedway yesterday for another series of tests, this time inside an ARCA car. Bill Davis Racing brought 2 cars to the test, one for Villeneuve (#02) and another for Michael Annett (#28). Both had a very good day scoring respectively 8th and 2nd fastest lap times out of 44 cars. Villeneuve was inside the car from early in the morning to late in the afternoon and impressed his crew chief as he was smiling all the way, despite the reputation he built himself in the F1 circus.

Villeneuve should be running the ARCA race at Talladega speedway on Friday, October 5th

Carpentier tests at Kentucky Speedway

Patrick Carpentier participated yesterday in a test with Gillett-Evernham Motorsport (GEM) at Kentucky Speedway. Carpentier drove the #10 old-style Nextel Cup car usually run by Scott Riggs for about 140 laps around the track, along with Nextel regular Elliott Sadler and 2 Red Bull cars. Carpentier seemed quite happy as he got out of the car : "Our goal was not to achieve a new track record, but to get used to the car, but still, I registered good times. The team was satisfied with the day and I brought the car back in one piece"

During the day, Carpentier was served a variety of different car settings to see how he reacted to each of them and, in he recorded his best lap time at a tenth of a second faster than Sadler

Carpentier will be in Carolina this week-end to work out the details of a possible contract with GEM

Villeneuve learns the draft under cover

On his first day of running in the draft, Jacques Villeneuve learned a lot from the pros yesterday, despite being under cover for the run. After issues with the main car in the morning, Villeneuve took the backup #22 for the afternoon session and few drivers knew he was driving it, just like Jimmie Johnson after passing together through a 17 cars field : "Really, that was Jacques? I was sure it was Blaney [...] He must be alright because I would have never thought it was a rookie following me in the draft". Jeff Burton had about the same comments after a bump drafting session with Villeneuve : "I saw Blaney's car in front of me and he was in a perfect place for a push so I bumped him on the backstretch. He then pushed me back in the same fashion [... ] I'm not that surprised of seeing him driver like a veteran. He was champion in F1, that means he can drive... fast".

Villeneuve brought the car back with a slightly bent front bumper which pleased his crew chief Slugger Labbe : "That means Jacques learned to push, which you have to do here at Talladega"

Villeneuve 11th in afternoon drafting session

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)

Villeneuve spent the first Talladega day getting confortable with the Cup car

Jacques Villeneuve today told SceneDaily a bit about his first day of testing at Talladega with the Nextel Cup teams : "We got going very late this morning and only got a couple runs in - we haven't been able to work on setup at all yet[ ... ] I was just getting used to running the fast laps out there as far as staying up to the top of the race track as long as possible before coming back down. I'm still working to figure everything out, but we will get more time this afternoon"

When questioned about the drafting practice that would take place later in the day, he added "I've been told that I will be wondering what this bunch of lunatics is doing out there running so close to each other the whole time - just like kids I suppose, but it should be fun [...] I am probably going to stay in the back and watch what happens."

Engine failure for Villeneuve at Talladega test

Jacques Villeneuve was on scene this Monday to test the Car Of Tomorrow (COT) for it's upcoming race at Talladega on October 7th (first race for the COT on a super speedway). Villeneuve's run was a short one as his engine let go on his first lap out. Bill Davis Racing's spokesperson told Radio-Canada that Villeneuve had nothing to do with the failure and that he went quickly back on track with the backup car.

Villeneuve was shown on Jayski's testing page as last car of 62 in the morning practice with a recorded speed of 162 mph while the 61st place car was at 181 mph.

Carpentier close to a deal with GEM

The Canadian Press reported today Patrick Carpentier would be close to a deal with Gillett Evernham Motorsport(GEM) for a NASCAR ride. Robert Desrosiers, Carpentier's representative, told that, they don't have a contract or a racing schedule yet but are sure about one thing : Patrick will be testing with GEM pretty soon, probably as soon as Kentucky next week. He then added : "I believe that after the tests, I think all of the cards are going to fall in place and we'll have more of a definite schedule on what Patrick's going to do this season [...] There are still quite a few races left in Busch and Nextel Cup and it's going to be up to Mr. Evernham and Mr. Gillett to see where they want to put Patrick."

Villeneuve is approved by NASCAR for COT test

They're were little reasons to believe otherwise but NASCAR announced today they approved Jacques Villeneuve's participation in the manufacturer's test that will be run at Talladega next week. Villeneuve will run the Car Of Tomorrow (COT) car alongside other NEXTEL regulars on the 2.66 mile super speedway.

Team owner Bill Davis also talked about having Villeneuve run the ARCA tests at Talladega on Sept. 24th and 25th (in was stated earlier this week that he would be running the ARCA race there on Oct. 5th)

Villeneuve getting comfortable with the COT

Jacques Villeneuve took the wheel of a Nextel Car of Tomorrow (COT) for the first time yesterday at Kentucky Speedway and got at speed much quicker than the people at Bill David Racing expected. Slugger Labbe, Villeneuve's crew chief said they had planned the whole morning for Villeneuve to get comfortable with the car but he was in the expected speed range at his 3rd lap which enabled them to do much more work than expected. In the end, Jacques ran 162 laps of the 1.5 mile oval. With these results, their testing schedule is now kicking to a new speed as Jacques should be testing with the Nextel guys at Talladega next week if he receives his clearance from NASCAR for the 2.66 miles super speedway.

The rumours heard yesterday also confirmed Villeneuve would use the last 7 races of the Craftsman Truck Series in preparation for his 2008 Sprint Cup assault.