On his debut in the Andros Trophy, Jacques Villeneuve finished 12th after the first day’sracing in Val Thorens, and 14th after the second giving him 10th place overall when thetwo were combined.

The French-Canadian spoke about his first impressions of the series: “It’s nothing likethe cars I’m used to driving. You come into the corners sideways or even in reverse! Themore you slide the more you have to accelerate: it’s exactly the opposite of what you doin a single-seater. Obviously, it’ll take me a little time to get used to it. In general, I likesports where there’s plenty of sliding - skiing in particular. Unfortunately, even thoughI’m a Canadian, I’ve never driven on ice so it’s all new to me.”

Nevertheless, the 1997 Formula One World Champion adapted quickly to the challenge:“It’s never easy to learn the ropes,” said Villeneuve. “On my very first outing I spentmost of the time going wide and I ended up on the snowy parts of the track trying to findthe limits and to understand what can happen if you go push too hard. The nice thingabout the Andros Trophy is that it’s not very stressful in that you don’t have to cover alarge number of laps in succession.

“I’m happy with the way I’ve progressed and it was in the finals running mid-field that Ilearned the most. That way I was able to see how my main rivals were driving. However,being competitive is one thing, fighting at the front is another. From what I’ve learned,experience plays a major role in this type of racing, and that’s what I’ve got to acquirefirst of all.”

Villeneuve is currently working towards a future in NASCAR, but is scheduled tocompete in the l’Alpe d’Huez, Saint Dié and Super Besse rounds of the Andros Trophy.The next round of the Andros Trophy will take place on 10 – 11 December in Andorra(Pas de la Case).