Yannis

Audi eyes Villeneuve for 2007

Audi has admitted interest in putting 1997 world champion Jacques Villeneuve behind the wheel of a DTM car in 2007.

With Heinz-Harald Frentzen no longer a part of the Ingolstadt based carmaker's foray in the German touring car series, a spokesman said Villeneuve and fellow F1 refugee Juan Pablo Montoya are top of Audi's Christmas wish list.

"They would of course be great for the series," Jurgen Pippig is quoted as saying by Sport-Informations-Dienst.

Villeneuve and Montoya both raced in formula one this year, but respectively departed the BMW and McLaren teams before the end of the season.

Montoya's long term Nascar foray with Chip Ganassi is assured, but French Canadian Villeneuve has penned a deal that is conditional on him finding millions in backing.

The news agency 'sid' speculated that the DTM route with Audi could earn the 35-year-old nearly $8 million a year.

Audi chief Wolfgang Ullrich said: "No question about it, big names are good for the DTM."
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Habitual Speeder

Good for JV...hopefully, he does better than his last go in F1.