Villeneuve to make Nascar debut

Villeneuve's F1 career ended last year

Former Formula 1 world champion Jacques Villeneuve will follow Juan Pablo Montoya in making the switch to Nascar.

Villeneuve will make his Nascar Nextel Cup race debut in the UAW-Ford 500 over the weekend of 5-7 October.

The 36-year-old Canadian's debut, which will be at the famous Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama, is five weeks earlier than expected.

Villeneuve's F1 career ended when he was dropped by the BMW Sauber team after last year's German Grand Prix.

He won the F1 title in 1997 with Williams before moving to BAR in 1999 for four years.

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After a year off in 2004 he returned with Sauber in 2005, but split with the team midway through 2006 following BMW's takeover.

Colombian Montoya spent six years in F1 before switching to Nascar.