The Canadian driver spent his four practice sessions to re-aquatinting himself with the art of changing gears with his left hand.
"It was a tough day, but there is a lot to learn; the track, the cars, using my left hand to shift, working on the seat, plus a lot going on today,” Jacques Villeneuve said.
"
The Pepsi Max Crew are all working really hard. Right now is the hard bit, hopefully we will get better throughout the weekend. But racing here this weekend, coming here this weekend, is mainly to learn how things work out here. The Townsville track is quite fun, it's quite busy, you are doing something all the time. It's a tough track to get used to the car because there is no margin for error. That makes the first day of driving the car quite difficult but it's fun and I'm having a blast out there."
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| Photo: Australian V8 Supercars |
Jacques Villeneuve will be back in action on Saturday morning the qualifying session, at 10:30 am, local time.
From GMM
Sebastian Vettel has denied ever suggesting the FIA deployed the safety car at Valencia as a deliberate ploy to spoil his race.
The reigning world champion, and Red Bull's Dr Helmut Marko, were quoted after the recent European grand prix as implying that Charlie Whiting only neutralised the race to deliberately curb Vettel's runaway race lead.
Shortly after the safety car period, ostensibly to clear crash debris from the track, the furious Vettel's RB8 failed.
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| Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull, in Valencia. (Photo: Pirelli) |
Asked about his reported conspiracy theory, the German said on Thursday: "What I said is that, in my opinion, there was no reason for the safety car to be on the track. Then I said that it ruined my race.
"I never said that it was (deployed) to ruin my race," he is quoted by Brazil's
O Estado de S.Paulo newspaper.
"That was written by those who have the habit of removing important parts (of quotes) to make it more sensational. I have reviewed the race and I still have the same opinion, but I do not dispute the decision of the officials. They always have more information than we do in order to make their decisions. Agree or not, I always respect them," said Vettel.
Vettel's apparent backtracking follows reports last week that
the FIA was unamused by the reigning back-to-back title winner's post-race comments.
Martin Swig--founder of the California Mille, racer of great vintage cars and the epitome of all that is fun about this car stuff that we all love--died on July 3 from a stroke he suffered at his home in Sausalito, Calif. He was 78.
TrueCar, an online car-shopping service, has ended after just six months its exclusive relationship with search engine Yahoo to send auto shoppers to auto dealerships.
Mobius Motors of Kenya claims that it is building the car that will transform Africa by offering reliable, rugged transportation to the masses.
Also in this episode: Volkswagen completes its takeover of Porsche, Ford touts the fuel economy of its
In a video that looks like something cooked up by elementary-school students, the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey touts its new, free smartphone app called Police Tape.
Car market leader Maruti Suzuki India Limited sold a total of 96,597 units in June 2012.
The Chevrolet Volt was the best-selling rechargeable car in the US in the first half of 2012, well ahead of Toyota's new plug-in Prius and Nissan's all-electric Leaf.
At the beginning of the week the head of PSA's second-biggest union announced the automaker would increase its job cuts target in France alone to 8,000-10,000, writes Frost & Sullivan senior consultant, Nicolas Meilhan.
The continued sales recovery for Japanese brands helped AutoNation Inc. outpace the industry last month in posting a 38 percent sales gain. AutoNation, the largest U.S. dealership group, sold 22,862 new vehicles in June. Total U.S.
While the Dukes of Hazzard prefer Dodges for their airborne shenanigans, Steve Butscher was driving a Ford Mustang 5.0 for his unintended jump and subsequent wreck at Willow Springs.
Visteon plans to offer some $800 million to take full control of South Korean car air conditioner maker Halla Climate Control, but analysts cautioned that a key shareholder may hold out for more.
TRW Automotive is confirming it will add 1,000 engineers at its new research and development plant in China as part of its increasing presence in the region.
When Ferdinand Piech took charge of Volkswagen 20 years ago, the carmaker was losing almost 1 billion euros ($1.24 billion).
Fiat gave an unexpected sneak preview of a crossover variant of its 500 minicar.
Ford has opened a $14.5 million expansion of its design studios at Merkenich-Cologne in Germany.
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