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Villeneuve rejects CART offer
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Le Journal de
Montreal
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2002.08.27
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Jacques Villeneuve has
turned down a three-year, $50-million US offer to race one season in
the CART series and return to Formula One for two others, Le
Journal de Montreal reported Tuesday, August 27th.
While Villeneuve and his agent Craig
Pollock seriously considered the offer, in the end they said they
wanted more money, according to the report.
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Jacques at the Indy 500 in 1995.
Photo: Sports Illustrated.
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The deal - arranged jointly with Player's and British American
Racing, Villeneuve's F-1 team - would have seen the driver from
Iberville, Que., race for Player's in the 2003 season and return to
BAR for 2004 and 2005.
BAR is owned by British American Tobacco, which owns Montreal-based
Imperial Tobacco, owner of the Player's-Forsythe team with team boss
Gerald Forsythe.
Player's, which must end its sponsorship of the team after 2003
under Canadian anti-tobacco legislation, is believed ready to go all
out for a championship in its final CART season.
Villeneuve won the CART title for Player's in 1995 before jumping to
F1.
The newspaper reported Pollock called Imperial Tobacco president Bob
Bexon on Monday to confirm Villeneuve was rejecting the offer
because he wanted more money.
"We would have loved to have been able to count on the services
of someone like Jacques Villeneuve for a year,'' Forsythe told Le
Journal in a telephone interview.
"It would have been very good for Player's and for the CART
series.
"Unfortunately, Pollock asked for even more money. It's too bad
because we know the idea interested Jacques, who doesn't mind the
idea of returning to race in North America where he would have been
able to win races.''
Forsythe said Villeneuve will earn about $19 million US next year
with BAR. Pollock insisted on the same salary for the two other
years of the contract, a total of $57 million.
"Their demands were too high,'' said Forsythe. ``I'm not sure
he will receive the same kind of offer from an F-1 team at the end
of his contract in 2003.''
Forsythe has now turned his attention to trying to conclude a deal
with American sponsor Klein Tools to get the funding necessary to
line up a third car next year with Canadian drivers Paul Tracy,
Patrick Carpentier and Alex Tagliani.
With Villeneuve out of the picture, the door is wide open for
Carpentier to re-sign with Player's. His agent Alan Labrosse now has
the upper hand in those negotiations.
"We will devote all the effort necessary to find another
sponsor and we're in serious discussions with a European company
that could replace Player's in 2004 as the team's principal
sponsor,'' said Forsythe.
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