F1: Durango, Villeneuve Not Giving Up Dream

Sprint Cup

F1: Durango, Villeneuve Not Giving Up Dream

Jacques Villeneuve and Durango boss Ivone Pinton are still pursuing a return to competition - be it in Formula One or NASCAR...

Adam Cooper | http://www.speedtv.com | Posted October 16, 2010 Balen (BEL)

Durango boss Ivone Pinton (Pictured) remains in close contact with Jacques Villeneuve. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

Durango boss Ivone Pinton says that he and Jacques Villeneuve have not yet given up on some kind of F1 involvement in 2011 – but could go to NASCAR instead if things don’t work out.

Pinton says that they are still in contact with existing teams that are looking for new owners or fresh investment.

“We started one year ago,” he told website 422race, “when I decided to be out of GP2, and I dedicated all myself to look for the right partners and economic possibilities. Villeneuve himself, who came to look for me to be able to do something together, was a good presence.

“He raced for me in Speedcar Series, had fun and found out that, after knowing each other for 23 years, we were still the same people. It’s a pleasant, sincere and quiet relationship. Now we are still working together and we hope for this adventure to realize.

“If we can do it in 2011, fine. Otherwise we will go on working on it. Meanwhile, he proposed (to) me, if we won’t be able to go to F1, to skip to NASCAR together and then come back trying to do things well in Europe. This is the most logical and possible situation. It’s useless to do something if you aren’t sure of the quality. And we already saw how it is to do F1 without quality.

“At the moment we are in contact with a couple of Formula One teams either to become partners or to buy the team, given that we have the possibilities to do things well and the right timing to move the economic part as well. Having said this, if it won’t be this year, it will be the next. Meanwhile, we will do something else.

Jacques Villeneuve may yet have some involvement in Formula One next year. (Photo: Getty Images)

“The first option is logically F1. We started to do this, Villeneuve wants to do this and he would like to race for a couple of years more. He says, 'If (Michael) Schumacher is racing, I can do it as well, because I am three years younger than him.' ...

“At the moment he’s still well as a person, he’s strong, he looks like a 15-years-old. He’s totally involved in this project and phones me five times a day. He’s a good person and I like working with him very much.”

Pinton said that the pair may yet do something in NASCAR together: “I think that NASCAR needs some European style. I came to see it with Jacques, and they are American, they live for the show. We always lived for races and passion. If we could merge these two aspects – American show and European organization – we could bring a new quality to them, which would certainly be appreciated.”

Adam Cooper notched up his 25th season as a racing journalist in 2009. Born in London, England, he saw his first F1 race at age 10 in 1976. He began freelancing for Autosport magazine in 1985 and was on the fulltime staff from 1987-92. He then went freelance again, initially spending two years in Japan before following the 1994 Champcar series from a base in Indianapolis. He has not missed a Grand Prix since Suzuka ‘94, a run that has extended to Abu Dhabi ’09. Adam has written books about Eddie Irvine, Piers Courage and Michael Schumacher and written about F1 for SPEED.com since 2005. Check out Adam's Blog or follow him on Twitter