Jacques back with a bang
22 June 2010
There was no more welcome mover on the Castrol Rankings this week than Jacques Villeneuve, who made a big impact on his return to racing at Road America last weekend.
The 1997 Formula 1 World Champion had not raced since last August when he accepted a one-off deal to drive a Braun Racing Toyota Camry in the NASCAR Nationwide Series race at the Wisconsin circuit.
From the first practice session though, the 39-year-old Canadian proved that he had lost none of his sublime skill behind the wheel, and he proved the point by qualifying on the front row alongside Sprint Cup regular Carl Edwards.
After running in the top 10 all race, his moment came at a restart with 12 laps remaining, as he vaulted his way up from eighth to take the lead in just four spectacular corners.
Just when a first race win since the 2008 Spa 1000km looked on the cards though, fate intervened. Or rather, an alternator problem did.
That dropped him back to 25th by the flag and meant that rather than climbing around 200 places in the Castrol Rankings, his climb was a more modest 75 spots, leaving him 1320th overall and 18th among the Canadians.
His score is currently made up from just three races; last year's Nationwide Series race at Montreal and Spa 24 Hours, and the Road America event last weekend.
Should he be offered a Sprint Cup seat for August's trip to Watkins Glen - and he really should be - his score will continue to increase. He may even find himself inside the top 1000 by the end of the year.
After that, who knows? For a man whose last couple of years have taken him through Speedcar, the Le Mans Series and the Belgian Touring Car Series, nothing is to be ruled out.
The Castrol Rankings is based on drivers' measurable performance over the last 12 months, including everything from their grid position to fastest laps. For further information on how the Castrol Rankings scores are calculated, click here.
