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Villeneuve Confirms F1 Team Plans with Durango

Jacques Villeneuve confirmed that he will attempt to get into Formula One next season at the helm of his own team, which will be a tie-up between his efforts and Italian team Durango. Earlier this year, Durango had announced it would give up on its GP2 Series efforts for 2010 and focus on getting the financial backing for an F1 programme in 2011.

In a few days time, the media started rumoring about a potential deal between the former F1 champion and Durango, as well as link it to a potential financial backing from Al-Saadi al-Gaddafi, the 37-year-old son of Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafi. So, the Canadian decided to issue a brief statement in order to put things in their place.

There are a number of rumors circulating at the moment and I wanted to clarify a few things before this gets out of hand,” said the statement.

The team will be a joint venture with Durango, and based out of Italy. To be clear, right now all the money comes from corporate sponsorship, and not from personal investors,” added the 1997 F1 champion, therefore denying the rumors about the Al-Saadi al-Gaddafi backing.

Earlier this week, a media report issued by Italiaracing suggested that Al-Saadi al-Gaddafi may invest in the team (directly or indirectly) as he is closely linked with the state-owned Libyan oil refining company Tamoil (formerly involved in the sponsorship of Serie A football club Juventus Turin).

According to the same report, there are currently two drivers in the running for the vacant seat at Villeneuve/Durango (in case, of course, the team will receive the go-ahead from the FIA), both Italian born – Luca Filippi and Davide Valsecchi – and both racing in the GP2 Series at the moment.
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