The Argentinian, who will share Vanwall’s Le Mans Hypercar with Villeneuve and Tom Dillmann, believes that the 51-year-old veteran “shall be there on lap time” when the 2023 WEC begins with the Sebring 1000 Miles on 17 March.

“It is rather good to have him on board, he’s a world champion, after all, and I feel he’s going to be fast as nicely, which is what issues ultimately,” stated Guerrieri.

Villeneuve, Components 1 world champion with Williams in 1997, had undertaken an week of intensive health coaching as a part of his preparations for the brand new season previous to going to the Vanwall manufacturing facility for a seat becoming along with his team-mates final week, Guerrieri revealed

“He’s very motivated: he was coming from a full week of coaching, I feel, in Austria,” defined Guerrieri.

“Jacques is again to his previous motivated days of F1, he was saying, with the individuals who used to coach him.”

Jacques Villeneuve, Vanwall Vandervell LMH, ByKolles Racing

Picture by: Vanwall Group

Villeneuve is making a return to full-time competitors for the primary time since 2019 when he contested the NASCAR Euro Sequence and is again in a prototype 15 years on from his campaigns on the Le Mans 24 Hours with the Peugeot 908 HDi LMP1 turbodiesel in 2007-08.

He faces an absence of mileage within the Vanwall Vandervell 680 heading into the season: his solely time within the automotive got here when he was given a try-out at Barcelona in late November.

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Villeneuve was unable to attend the staff’s closing improvement run at Aragon earlier than Christmas, whereas the staff’s focus since has been on the homologation of the automotive somewhat than testing.

Group boss Colin Kolles has said that Vanwall’s precedence on the official WEC pre-season take a look at, identified on the Prologue, at Sebring the weekend earlier than the race shall be on giving Villeneuve seat time.

“It will likely be powerful, a good distance [for him to go], as a result of he has not had a lot mileage within the automotive,” he stated.

“However we’ve got the Prologue at Sebring, so we’re planning to provide him probably the most potential mileage and we’ll see how he develops.”

Guerrieri and Dillmann shall be each new to Sebring Worldwide Raceway, however Villeneuve has in depth expertise of the Florida venue from his time within the CART Indycar sequence in 1994-95.