Juan Montoya won’t be the only ex-Formula 1 star and former Indy 500 winner returning to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway this May.
RACER.com has learned that 1995 Indy victor Jacques Villeneuve has agreed to drive a third car for Schmidt Peterson Motorsports and he will be confirmed Wednesday in a press conference here in Indianapolis.
The 42-year-old Canadian, who also captured the ’95 CART title before moving to F1 where he won the 1997 World Championship, will not be attendance at the Schmidt Peterson shop.
Villeneuve was testing a World Rallycross Peugeot in the United Kingdom over the weekend and flying back to North America on Monday and could not be reached for comment.
IMS has been scrambling to come up with 33 solid entries for the 98th Indianapolis 500 and it’s believed Villeneuve’s stature helped land a big sponsor.
The son of Gilles, the legendary F1 racer who finished runner-up in the 1979 World Championship but was killed three years later, Jacques has not raced an open wheel car since 2006, his final season in F1 but has spent the past few years dabbling in NASCAR trucks, Nationwide and Sprint Cup. His last race was in Cup at Sonoma, Calif. last summer.
In his 164 starts in F1, Jacques scored 11 wins, 13 pole positions and 23 podiums after scoring five victories in CART.
