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Wednesday, 10 January 2007, 13:03 GMT

Villeneuve handed Le Mans chance

Jacques Villeneuve Former Formula One world champion Jacques Villeneuve has been named in Peugeot's driver line-up for this year's Le Mans 24 Hours.

The Canadian, 35, will drive the new diesel car the French company hopes will end Audi's domination of the race.

A victory would make Villeneuve the first man to win the F1 title, the Indianapolis 500, Le Mans and the US-based Champ Car series.

Triple Champ Car champion Sebastien Bourdais has also been named.

Bourdais will complete an all-French line-up in one car with Stephane Sarrazin and Nicolas Minassian, with Villeneuve teaming up with his fellow ex-F1 drivers Pedro Lamy of Portugal and Spaniard Marc Gene in the other.

Peugeot last won the Le Mans endurance classic in 1993, when Frenchmen Eric Helary and Christophe Bouchut shared the victorious car with Australian Geoff Brabham.

The new Peugeot 908 diesel HDi Villeneuve's F1 career ended when he was dropped by the BMW Sauber team after last year's German Grand Prix.

He won the Champ Car title and Indy 500 in 1995, when the championship was still called the IndyCar World Series, and won 11 races in his first two seasons in F1 with Williams, culminating in the world title.

But his success ended there. He moved to the new BAR team, which was set up around him, for 1999, and struggled to make an impact before being dropped in 2003.

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




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Audi claim historic Le Mans win (18 Jun 06 |  Motorsport )

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