Villeneuve to risk reputation to run in Daytona 500
Jacques Villeneuve tried 14 years ago to race the Daytona 500 to add to his storied racing resume. He failed to make the field and moved on with his career.
Now he's returning to Daytona International Speedway to give it another shot. The Canadian will attempt to qualify for the biggest race on the NASCAR calendar next week for a team trying to work its way to the top of stock car racing.
Why would a 50-year-old former Formula One champion and Indianapolis 500 winner even bother?
“The Daytona 500 is one of the three big races on the planet,” Villeneuve said. “You have the Le Mans 24, the Indy 500 and Daytona, so that's one reason for doing it. And you know, you have a good race, then you end up doing a few more?”
Villeneuve captured the Indy500 in 1995 and two years later was the F1 champion. He spent 11 seasons at the top level of motorsports. When he lost his F1 seat at the end of 2006, he simply searched for new racing opportunities.
His journey took him to Talladega Superspeedway for a 21st-place finish in his NASCAR debut in 2007, five races in the Xfinity Series at the Montreal road course named after his late father, and seven Truck Series races. Villeneuve raced in a handful of NASCAR feeder series, in supercars, in Formula E and finally two seasons in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series.
Now he's trying to help Team Hezeberg launch its program and hopes to qualify his way into his first Cup race since 2013 at Sonoma. Team Hezberg is a new collaborative effort between former sports car driver Toine Hezemans, Dutch businessman Ernst Berg and Reaume Brothers Racing.
The team is planning a partial schedule this season that focuses on the six road course races on the 2022 Cup schedule. Loris Hezemans, son of the team owner, has been announced as the primary driver but the 24-year-old is not approved to race at Daytona.
And that's where Villeneuve, who counts four Cup races among his 20 starts across NASCAR's national series, entered the picture. He drives for the team in Europe alongside the younger Hezemans and agreed to help with the Daytona 500 effort.
“I've never stopped racing. I've never stopped wanting to race in NASCAR, which is why I was racing a little bit in Europe,” he said. “But now with the European team, coming in with a Heisenberg, we got in contact so they were wanting the general experience. It's not everyone who wants to drive for an unqualified car. It's a tough endeavor and it is a small team. But there are good chances that we make the show.”
The No. 27 Ford will be among six expected entries trying to claim one of four open spots in the 40-car field. Villeneuve can make the show either through time trials on Wednesday night, or in Thursday night's qualifying races. He said the situation reminds him of the start of his career racing Formula 3 in Italy and under immense pressure to make the field.
“If you don't make Daytona, having won F1 and the Indy 500, I guess it could be a bit difficult,” he said. “If you don't make the show, you just damage yourself. Basically you damage your reputation, you can damage the 30 years of hard work you put into your career. So there's always a big risk involved in that aspect.
“But I just love racing. I'm passionate. I'm alive when I'm behind a steering wheel and the bigger the race, the better.”
Chelsea captures Club World Cup
Chelsea extended Europe's domination of the Club World
Cup by beating Palmeiras 2-1 after extra time in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, to win the intercontinental title for the first time.
Kai Havertz, the forward who scored Chelsea's winner in last season's Champions League final, proved the man for the big occasion again by converting the game-clinching penalty with three minutes left in extra time.
Romelu Lukaku gave Chelsea the lead in the 55th minute in the final, only for Raphael Veiga to equalize nine minutes later.
European champion, UEFA Super Cup winner and now club world champion. It has been quite the start to the tenure of Thomas Tuchel, who made it to the final having missed the semifinals while isolating after contracting the coronavirus.
Chelsea is the ninth straight European winner of the title, dating to 2013. The last team from Europe to lose in the final? Chelsea, to Corinthians in 2012.
Palmeiras is the Copa Libertadores champion.
Opelka outlasts Isner to reach Dallas final
Reilly Opelka won the longest tiebreaker in ATP Tour history to finish a straightsets win over John Isner and advance to the final of the inaugural Dallas Open.
The second-seeded Opelka sent a winner down the line for a 24-22 tiebreaker victory in the second set to secure the 7-6 (7), 7-6 (22) win over Isner, the No. 3 seed and de facto tournament host at the SMU facility about a mile from his house.
Opelka will face Jenson Brooksby, 21, in the title match after he saved four match points to edge Marcos Giron, 6-4, 6-7(4), 7-6(5).
• Top-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas rallied past a qualifier at the Rotterdam hard-court indoor tournament in the Netherlands to reach his first final since the French Open last June.
Tsitsipas ended Czech qualifier Jiri Lehecka's run by 4-6, 6-4, 6-2. He will face Felix Auger-Aliassime in today's final after the third seed came back from one set down to beat defending champion Andrey Rublev.
Tsitsipas was made to work for nearly two hours by the 137th-ranked Lehecka, who previously upset Denis Shapovalov.
Tsitsipas said he did not expect such an aggressive display from Lehecka.
“He was really pushing me,” Tsitsipas said. “I did not know what to expect, so I was trying to figure out his patterns and his game. He was playing incredibly well after the first serve, pressing and attacking like I had never seen before. I had to stay in the match and I managed to survive.”
Lehecka, 20, was the lowest-ranked Rotterdam semifinalist since 1995 and Omar Camporese, who was ranked 225th.
Chasing a maiden ATP title, Auger-Aliassime hit 41 winners, including 11 aces, and won 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-2.
• Top-seeded players Casper Ruud and Diego Schwartzman will play in today's final of the Argentina Open. Ruud beat Argentinian Federico Delbonis 6-3, 6-3. Hours later, Schwartzman topped thirdseeded player Lorenzo Sonego of Italy 7-5, 3-6, 6-2.
• Maria Sakkari will face Anett Kontaveit in the final of the St. Petersburg (Russia) Ladies Trophy after the top-seeded players came through the semifinals.
Sakkari defeated IrinaCamelia Begu of Romania 6-4, 6-7 (4), 6-4, while the second-seeded Kontaveit had a easier path to the final by beating Jelena Ostapenko 6-3, 6-4.
White Sox minor leaguers need booster
The Chicago White Sox require COVID-19 booster shots for players with minor league contracts in order to participate in spring training.