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Little prince of Québec

06. Jun 2022 
by Pierre Van Vliet
7453 views

Besides his first Grand Prix with McLaren in 1977, Gilles Villeneuve drove most of his career at Ferrari. That year, the fiery Canadian driver, double Formula Atlantic champion in Canada and in the US, driving a Doug Shierson entered March (9 victories in 10 races), inherits the new Dallara WD1 for the Can-Am series.

Chris Amon was meant to drive this pretty race car designed by Gianpaolo Dallara for Walter Wolf, but he decided not to continue after the first round at Mount Tremblant. Villeneuve duly took over, while driving in F. Atlantic and making his Formula 1 debut.

Interestingly, Gilles also participated in the Mosport 6 Hours (picture below) counting for the World Constructors’ Championship, driving a Group 5 BMW 320 with Eddie Cheever.

The two drivers were then tested by Ferrari at Fiorano in September and the little Canadian got the drive: a few weeks later, he replaced Niki Lauda, freshly crowned, at the Scuderia.

Source: DR

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