Circuit Gilles Villeneuve

Circuit Gilles Villeneuve

Location	Montreal, Québec, Canada
Time zone	GMT -5
Owner	Ville de Montréal
Opened	1978
Former Names	Île Notre-Dame Circuit (1978-1982)
Major Events	FIA Formula One Canadian Grand Prix NASCAR Nationwide Series NAPA Auto Parts 200 NASCAR Canadian Tire Series NAPA AUTOPRO 100 Grand Am Rolex Sports Car Series
Circuit Length	4.361 km (2.71 mi)
Turns	15
Lap Record	1:13.622 ( Rubens Barrichello, Ferrari, 2004)

The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve is a motor racing circuit which was the venue for the Formula One Canadian Grand Prix, and is the venue of NASCAR Canadian Tire Series, and, as of 2007, NASCAR Nationwide Series and Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series races. On 7 October, 2008, the Canadian Grand Prix that took place for 31 years at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve was dropped from the 2009 Formula One calendar and replaced with the inaugural race in Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. The FIA issued a revised calendar with Turkey moving from August to 7 June to allow a summer break for the teams. There will be no North American round after the US Grand Prix at Indianapolis was dropped this year.

Circuit

The circuit, at Parc Jean-Drapeau on Île Notre-Dame, a man-made island in the St. Lawrence River that is part of the city of Montreal, was originally named the Île Notre-Dame circuit ^[1]. It was renamed in honour of Canadian Formula One driver Gilles Villeneuve, father of Jacques Villeneuve, following his death in 1982^[2]. The venue hosted the Champ Car World Series Grand Prix of Montreal from 2002-2006.

During the few days of the Grand Prix, Île Notre-Dame is one of the noisiest places in Montreal. At just about any other time of the year, it is one of the quietest, being located in the middle of a river, on an island filled with greenery and animals, joggers and cyclists.

Bienvenue au Québec slogan on the Wall of Champions

The circuit's Pit Hairpin

The circuit is a fast circuit, but it is also something like a street circuit. Barriers run close to the circuit and many experienced drivers have been caught out by them. A particularly famous part of the circuit is the wall on the outside of the exit of the final chicane. In 1999 the wall, which has on it the slogan Bienvenue au Québec ("Welcome to Quebec") giving it the nickname "Mur du Québec" (Quebec Wall), ended the race of three Formula One World Champions, Damon Hill, Michael Schumacher & Jacques Villeneuve along with FIA GT champion Ricardo Zonta. Since then the wall has been nicknamed "The Wall Of Champions". In recent years Jenson Button (2005) and Vitantonio Liuzzi (2007) have also fallen victim to the wall. Fernando Alonso 2005/06 F1 World Champion and Nico Rosberg have also both hit the wall at turn 5. Juan Pablo Montoya has also hit a wall on the circuit.

Changes made in 2005 to the curbs on the final chicane were controversial amongst drivers in the run-up to the Grand Prix. The curbs were made higher and more difficult for the drivers to see, making the chicane even more of a challenge to drivers.

On June 23, 2006, Canadian Press reported that the city of Montreal has awarded exclusive rights to stage the two allowed race weekends on the track to Normand Legault, promoter of the Formula One Canadian Grand Prix. The deal is for 2007 to 2011, with an option for 2012 to 2016. Legault decided to replace the Champ Car race with races from the Grand American Road Racing Association's Rolex Series and NASCAR's Nationwide Series, respectively - the latter series' first race north of the Canadian-United States border. On August 4th, 2007, Kevin Harvick made history by winning the first NASCAR Busch Series (now Nationwide Series) race at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in what was one of the most controversial NASCAR races ever. Robby Gordon says he won.^[3]

The NASCAR races have affected the circuit. An expansion of pit lane has taken place because a NASCAR pit lane must accommodate a minimum of 43 cars, and it is expansion took place at the pit exit.

As part of Parc Jean-Drapeau, the Circuit is open to visitors, between races, for walking, running, biking, in-line skating, etc.

Comparison of different series at the circuit

As the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve serves as host to different racing series, it is possible to directly compare different race series' lap times.

During the inaugural Champ Car visit in 2002, former Champ Car Champion Juan Pablo Montoya set pole position in the Formula One race with a lap time of 1:12.836. Several weeks later, Cristiano Da Matta set pole position in the Champ Car race with a lap time of 1:18.959.

In 2006, the latest and currently last time CART and F1 ran on the same track, Formula One was 5 to 7 seconds faster than Champ Car. The pole position in Formula 1 was set by Fernando Alonso in a time of 1:14.942, while Sébastien Bourdais set pole in 1:20.005 in Champ Car. The fastest lap in the Formula 1 race was 1:15.841 by Kimi Räikkönen, while Sébastien Bourdais' fastest lap was 1:22.325 in the Champ Car race.

2007 NASCAR Busch Series driver Patrick Carpentier racing in the NAPA Auto Parts 200 posted a pole time of 1:42.086; by comparison his 2004 Molson Indy Montreal qualifying time in the Champ Car World Series was 1:20.836.

The track record for the Rolex Sports Car Series is 1:33.199. The time was set by Scott Pruett driving for Chip Ganassi Racing in the Daytona Prototype class in 2008.

External links

• Circuit Gilles Villeneuve
• Circuit Gilles Villeneuve History and Statistics
• Statistics from official F1 site
• A lap of Montreal with Honda’s Alex Wurz
• Montreal - the technical requirements
• Trackpedia guide to driving Gilles Villeneuve
• BBC's circuit guide
• Ciro Pabón's Racetracks 3D views and virtual laps of all F1 circuits, including this one, via Google Earth
• Google Maps
• Spectator testimonial of the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve
• Nascar Busch Series on Play-Montreal
• Parc Jean-Drapeau

References

See also

• Other Montreal area race tracks
  • Circuit Mont-Tremblant
  • Sanair Super Speedway