Villeneuve on the pole!

[VilleneuveTracy]

This is his first pole since Jerez 97'...

Former Formula 1 champion Jacques Villeneuve thrilled fans in his native Canada Friday afternoon, as he captured the pole for Saturday’s NAPA Auto Parts 200 NASCAR Nationwide Series race on the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve road course in Montreal. The circuit is named for Jacques’ late father.

Villeneuve posted a lap of 95.835 miles per hour in the No. 22 Dodge Challenger normally driven by Brad Keselowski. That speed was tops among the 46 drivers setting times and gave the popular Canadian his first NNS pole in seven career starts.

Starting on the outside of Row 1 will be Montreal native Alex Tagliani, who drove the No. 12 Penske Dodge to a speed of 95.708 mph.

Jason Leffler, who in 16 prior NNS road races had never qualified in the top five, was third with a lap of 95.493 mph in his No. 38 Turner Motorsports Chevrolet. He’ll be flanked by another ex-Formula 1 racer, Scott Speed, who qualified his No. 33 KHI Chevrolet at 95.381 mph.

http://nascar.speedtv.com/article/nn...ircuit-gilles/

[Axeman444]

he'll still bin it somehow

[djb]

Originally Posted by Axeman444

he'll still bin it somehow

come on jacques, surprise us!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

good for him though for showing us he still has the ******** and talent to put that fat sucker on pole!

[kurski]

I am really happy about this, hopefully, Villeneuve wins the race.

[rich07]

Originally Posted by Axeman444

he'll still bin it somehow

Wont surprise me if your prediction comes true. A hot quali lap is one thing but the race will be interesting. Oh well at least he isnt singing

Go Owen Kelly!

[FIRE]

Or he will use his brakes to much.

Of course it's nice for him to be on pole at his home track.

[FPV8U]

Will be a good race with the hometown heros starting at the front and Ambrose charging through from the back, untill he hits mid pack i wouldn't expect too much resistance within the racing pack.

[kelvin88]

He can take the pole, he can win the race, he won't ever be a decent stock car driver though, it just isn't in him. If he wants to continue a career in motorsport, he should look somewhere else. GT racing, he would be good at that.

[djb]

well, just got in from seeing the race....he went and did it again...the poor guy really isnt good at restarts and threw it away.
Nice to see Tags get second but Ambrose really did have the legs on everyone at the end and was able to pull car lengths out when it was needed at the very end.

[FPV8U]

JV threw his race away and almost killed Ambrose' chances aswell, massive recovery by Marcos, good drive from Tags for a solid second but he didn't quite have the pace within himself or the hardware to challenge the #9 Mustang.

Mcdowell was pretty impressive for a speedway driver until the final restart.

[Jacques Rabbit]

What a poor sport, that Villeneuve. Screwed up his own race and decided to just plow his way into Ambrose. Good thing it didn't change the result of the race, because it was really just a bad show to come straight on the track like that in hopes Ambrose would spin and he'd resume leading. He made no effort to blend whatsoever. Typical ******* maneuver that we've seen from J.V. every time he pretends he can be a stock car driver.

One guy who looked damn good in the cars today? Tagliani. Just proper stock car driving there today, went in hard when he needed to, but didn't do anything silly, and just looked like he knew exactly what he was doing. Quality stuff.

The aforementioned McDowell...his background is actually in the Champ Car ladder (and one start in the big show) and then Grand-Am sports cars. So while he's been a speedway guy in past years, road racing is very much in his past.

The incident with Carpentier was, too me, just racing. A shame, but just racing, and while Steven Wallace is a bit reckless, he was there at the end, wasn't he? Good show from him.

Cool race.

[GTRMagic]

Oh well, I guess Mr Villeneuve can go drive for Hispania in F1 and leave this riff raff stock car racing behind

Meantime for Mr Marcos Ambrose. Two wins in a week, and another race tonight (AU time). Awesome stuff! Finally!

[Carsandmotorracing]

Great to see Marcos win today!

[GTRMagic]

Story on FoxSports

Including Mr Villeneuve's moves...

[rich07]

Ambrose wins and hits Villeneuve on way? That made my morning. Thanks Marcos.

[djb]

the hits here and there made me talk about how diff nascar is vs other series vis a vis hitting someone and taking them out or whatever. In other series you would get a stop and go, or whatever, seems in nascar that its a free for all, with no penalties.

the person i went with and who follows nascar told me that they leave it up to the drivers to eke out punishment, so if someone is a jackass one race, someone will take him out...i dunno but i dont that idea and basically, this all fits in with teh whole "entertainment" and maufactured entertainment of nascar.

just a diff attitude to racing it seems, and much so for the show.

[Carsandmotorracing]

Originally Posted by djb

the hits here and there made me talk about how diff nascar is vs other series vis a vis hitting someone and taking them out or whatever. In other series you would get a stop and go, or whatever, seems in nascar that its a free for all, with no penalties.

the person i went with and who follows nascar told me that they leave it up to the drivers to eke out punishment, so if someone is a jackass one race, someone will take him out...i dunno but i dont that idea and basically, this all fits in with teh whole "entertainment" and maufactured entertainment of nascar.

just a diff attitude to racing it seems, and much so for the show.

I think it was pretty cool how JV didn't get a penalty. Reminds me of classic F1

[gomick]

Cool win for Ambrose - 14th to 4th in 1 lap on a re-start... JV, $hit driving on re-start, he had it coming from Ambrose a few corners later!
Didnt hear any JV comments after the race?

[Jacques Rabbit]

Originally Posted by djb

the hits here and there made me talk about how diff nascar is vs other series vis a vis hitting someone and taking them out or whatever. In other series you would get a stop and go, or whatever, seems in nascar that its a free for all, with no penalties.

the person i went with and who follows nascar told me that they leave it up to the drivers to eke out punishment, so if someone is a jackass one race, someone will take him out...i dunno but i dont that idea and basically, this all fits in with teh whole "entertainment" and maufactured entertainment of nascar.

just a diff attitude to racing it seems, and much so for the show.

I prefer the way NASCAR runs it for these types of cars. Ambrose got Villeneuve back and went on to win. Just hard racing and it doesn't put NASCAR in a position where they have to make a judgment call (i.e. could Villeneuve have tried to blend better etc).

Originally Posted by gomick

Cool win for Ambrose - 14th to 4th in 1 lap on a re-start... JV, $hit driving on re-start, he had it coming from Ambrose a few corners later!
Didnt hear any JV comments after the race?

Villeneuve did say something to the extent of how he was being respectful by leaving Marcos room and that's why he lost it. Didn't comment on the actual spearing of him.

[djb]

I would have loved to have seen Villeneuve do well, but seeing his "blending" in move..oi vey, blending in at somewhat of a right angle doesnt seem to be ideal

but you know, he probably did go off because he was in fact leaving room to Amrose (he could have squeezed him easily, bumping a bit and putting himself ahead for the upcoming righthander, and I believe he lost it under braking because he was off the line and on the slippey side a bit (they both appeared to brake at the same time, Jacques did not look to have outbraked himself compared to Ambrose)

you know, despite what I said earlier about questioning the lack of penalites for taking people out, it was still a very entertaining race, it wouild have been even more fun if it was held today, as it has been raining most of today....

again, impressive as all heck how Ambrose passed so many people, truly shows the step up of talent with the road circuit drivers compared to the primarily oval guys. Just too bad that Vill had that happen, I see it now as a racing incident, and if he had pushed Ambrose over a bit, he (Vill) would have had the advantage, but he didnt push him in the left, but paid the price for being offline under braking.
At first I thought he could have come back onto the track better, by going on the paved section and actually blending in, but when you see the replay, his angle was bad to begin with, and you know, its easy to critisize from our chairs, but I can see how his instinct was to just get back on track--it was a totally doofus angle but, I can see how it could happen. He would have had to stop completely to not do what he did (hes led most of the race, pulling large leads, to lose it all to yellows and restarts)

On Ambrose punting him out a bit later....well that was probably premeditated, I say probably but seeing the replay, it might of been with other cars backing up a bit in mid corner....oh well.....it is what it is.

I still think its a mistake for the city to lose this race. Its very fan friendly, with loads more viewing space than F1 with general admission tickets, it really took me back to seeing F1 there 30 years ago when they didnt block fences with plastic sheeting to reduce viewing and/or stacking seats everywhere else. When I last went there to see F1 (at least 7 years ago) it was downright shameful how they treated the general admission people, hardly any viewing at all.

on the topic I brought up, this race was fun to watch and to hear, I would still like one day to see a big honking oval race, for the spectacle of it. But dont see myself getting into Nascar with the mostly oval races.

[White flag man]

Originally Posted by Axeman444

he'll still bin it somehow

[Jacques Rabbit]

Totally agree that this race can't be lost. Best crowd Nationwide's had all year, I think.

I like Ron Fellows' take on it: they want a race at Mosport. But not at the expense of Montréal. Move Iowa to one of the vacant Nashville weekends and do a two-race Canadian swing. Road racing in these cars is good stuff.

[fieldodreams79]

I was very entertained by this event; congrats to Ambrose on an awesome week for him (until today). Great battles and passing, but some typical bonehead moves by several drivers made the day difficult for some. There needs to be some serious "counseling" for Maryeve Dufault before she ever returns to ANY circuit; that was perhaps the dumbest move I've seen on a track, ever. And she almost did it twice. She is pretty damn hot, though.

I can't understand how an experienced road racer thought a run through the grass after going way too deep into the first complex and a circle tracker like Carl Edwards can find the pavement/merge "lane" inside of turn 2 after doing pretty much the same thing. Lucky, JV only ruined his race and glad to see Ambrose show his displeasure shortly there after.

Too bad for Patrick Carpentier; not a great way to end a career.

[fieldodreams79]

Originally Posted by Jacques Rabbit

Totally agree that this race can't be lost. Best crowd Nationwide's had all year, I think.

I like Ron Fellows' take on it: they want a race at Mosport. But not at the expense of Montréal. Move Iowa to one of the vacant Nashville weekends and do a two-race Canadian swing. Road racing in these cars is good stuff.

Last we discussed a return to Circuit of Giles, it seemed on shaky ground...

http://tentenths.com/forum/showthread.php?t=128901&highlight=Montrea

Not sure if either the promoters or great attendance can sway NASCAR either way, but would agree with all that it should stay and add Mosport or at least have Mosport replace it. As I stated in the above thread, I am sure NASCAR has something dumb in mind.

[djb]

Originally Posted by fieldodreams79

There needs to be some serious "counseling" for Maryeve Dufault before she ever returns to ANY circuit; that was perhaps the dumbest move I've seen on a track, ever. And she almost did it twice. She is pretty damn hot, though.

I can't understand how an experienced road racer thought a run through the grass after going way too deep into the first complex and a circle tracker like Carl Edwards can find the pavement/merge "lane" inside of turn 2 after doing pretty much the same thing. Lucky, JV only ruined his race and glad to see Ambrose show his displeasure shortly there after.

Too bad for Patrick Carpentier; not a great way to end a career.

what happened with Dufault? I didnt see it yesterday (prob when I was walking around to a diff part of track and out of sight of a screen)

re the grass run-as I said, I thought so too but when you see the replay it did happen quite fast...BUT he should have known better than to barge in at that angle...

Carpentier...cool guy too bad for him. Ive had a chance to speak briefly with him afew times and both him and Tags were nice fellows.