Former F1 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve has been announced to race in the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) with the eponymous Vanwall team, which won F1’s inaugural Constructors’ Championship.
Vanwall will have a new hypercar class and a non-hybrid vehicle, the Vanwall Vandervell 680, overseen by former F1 team principal Colin Kolles on the project.
1997 F1 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve will run a Vanwall car with Bycoles test drivers Tom Dillmann and Esteban Guerrieri in the 2023 WEC.
Vanwall made F1 history by winning its first Constructors’ title in 1958. However, founder Tony Vandervell lost his passion for F1 when driver Stuart Lewis-Evans died from injuries sustained at the Moroccan Formula 1 Grand Prix at the end of the season that year.
Tony Vandervell announced early in 1959 that he would no longer fund the team. The team only managed one race in each of the 1959 and 1960 seasons, withdrawing from F1 altogether.
Jacques Villeneuve has never won the Monaco Grand Prix, so his first attempt at the 24 Hours of Le Mans will not be a shot at the treble, a feat only accomplished by Graham Hill.
But the 51-year-old Canadian could claim another triple crown by adding victory over Vanwall during the 24 Hours of Le Mans to his Indy 500 and Gall F1 World Championship wins.
Vanwall is not the only F1-affiliated team to join the WEC this season. Ferrari returns to the top class for the first time in 50 years.
Category: F1 / Jacques Villeneuve / 24 Hours of Le Mans / WEC (FIA World Endurance Championship)
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