Karting: Jacques Villeneuve competes in Quebec karting race

Adapted from official press release

Former Formula 1 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve made a welcome appearance in front of his fans when he contested a round of the Coupe de Montreal and Quebec karting championship at ICAR in Mirabel, Quebec last Sunday.

Jacques Villeneuve, former Formula 1 World Champion

“I really like racing karts. They are extremely physical machine to drive and they are fantastic to keep in shape,” Villeneuve told Auto123.com.

“It’s a lot of fun to come here and race against the best kart racers of Quebec. These kids are really fast! I feel more comfortable behind the wheel of my Rotax DD2 kart. I still have some problems getting to grips with the Rotax Max senior machine,” said Villeneuve.

A series of light showers complicated the running the heats, pre-finales and finales.

In the Micro-Max class, the qualifying session and the pre-final race saw a three-way battle between Allan Moreau, Vincent Roy and James Dean Landeroute. The results of the final race, however, were completely different.

There was a lot of action at the beginning of the race, which caused Moreau and Roy to fade away from the lead. Only Landeroute avoided the traps and lead from the beginning to the checkered flag. Unfortunately for him, the technical inspector put an end to his podium dreams and Landeroute was DQ’ed. The win was given to Gianfranco Mazzaferro over Benjamin Farran and Kevin Hébert. Allan Moreau did well after with a 4th place.

In the Honda classes, Vincent Cyr and Amélie Lafontaine, on Arrow, ran up front all day long in the Lite class. Cyr was the quickest in qualifying and the final race, while Lafontaine won the pre-final race and finished second in the final. Kristopher Ryan Bissonnette took the third place.

In the heavier class, Rémy Leblanc began his day the best way with the pole in qualifying and a second place in the pre-final. He couldn’t reach the top step in the final race and he finished third behind Sylvain Couturier and the winner, William Peters. In the junior class, Jean-Philippe Jodoin resisted Reid Arnord’s charge and finished just ahead of him in the final race. Maxime Couturier climbed on the third step of the podium.

In Mini-Max, the battle for the first place was between Lance Stroll, Zachary Clamen-Demelo and Olivier Bédard all day long. Stroll was the best in each session but it wasn’t easy for him, especially in the final race when he won with only three tenths of a second lead over Demelo. Olivier Bédard finished third.

It was a good event for Bédard with a third place in qualifying, a second place in the pre-final race with the fastest lap. An interesting point in this class is that all of the three leaders were the fastest driver in one of the three sessions.