NASCAR outside the United States has had its fair share of interesting and absurd moments... but no track bares a more crazy history and overall sense of excitement than Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, Quebec. Over the 6 years the track was on the NASCAR Busch/Xfinity schedule, we saw tons of late race drama, tight racing, crunch ups all over the track, rain, mistakes, controversy, and so much more. Let's just say, it became a fan favorite from day 1. Here we go for every race at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, starting from the inaugural event in 2007.
2007: August 4th, 2007, a day which saw the first ever race held in Montreal, and it was no stranger to its fair share of drama. After a relatively calm first 70 laps, chaos ensued. Marcos Ambrose led 37 laps on the day, and was in contention to win the race. On a lap 70 restart, a pile up in turn 2 caused the caution to come out. Ambrose held the lead as the caution flew, but Robby Gordon passed him by. Ambrose, annoyed by this, bumped Gordon out of the way.
Ambrose held the lead, while Robby Gordon was forced to the back. Except... Robby never went to the back of the field. He held his position, in 2nd, and as soon as the restart began, he was black flagged. It didn't matter to him. His main target was Marcos Ambrose. As soon as he reached Ambrose in turn 3, he punted him around, and Kevin Harvick took the lead. Gordon remained ahead of Harvick for the next 2 laps, despite the fact he never was the leader. Harvick was in a duel with Patrick Carpentier, as Gordon sped off, still not in the lead.
Off turn 14, the confused fans saw both Gordon and Harvick celebrate as if they both won the race. Both of them even did burnouts at the same time! Once it was all settled, Harvick was confirmed the winner of the race, and Gordon even said "If you want to know my opinion, I won the race. I completed all the laps."
2008: August 2nd, 2008. On an overcast and humid day. In the first 7 laps, there was a light sprinkle in Montreal, and finally, the rains came. And they started to drizzle hard enough to warrant a caution, resulting in the 1st ever time NASCAR raced in the rain. NASCAR had previously practiced in rain at Suzuka in 1997, and 2000 at Watkins Glen for the Cup Series, but never in the Nationwide series. On lap 8, the rain came pouring down, and NASCAR pulled all the cars down the pit lane for service. On lap 14, the race was restarted under green, and the first ever official laps with wet weather ti
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Circuit Information
- Location โ Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Montreal, Quebec
- Track Type โ Permanent road course
- Length โ 2.71 miles (4.361km)
- Turns โ 14 (6 left, 8 right)
Race Information
- Laps โ 32
- Distance โ 86.72 miles (139.562km)
- Time limit โ 2h25m
- Special โ Damage OFF
Broadcast Information
- ๐ IndyCar YouTube stream, 6:20pm EDT
- ๐ง๐ท 7:20pm BRT; ๐ฌ๐ง๐ฎ๐ช 10:20pm GMT; ๐ช๐บ 11:20pm CET; ๐ฟ๐ฆ 12:20am SAST; ๐ท๐บ 1:20am MSK; ๐ฏ๐ต 7:20am JST; ๐ฆ๐บ 9:20am AEDT; ๐ณ๐ฟ 11:20am NZDT
Entry List
| No. | Driver | Team | Stream |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | ๐บ๐ธ Josef Newgarden | Team Penske | https://www.youtube.com/c/JosefNewgarden/live |
| 3 | ๐ณ๐ฟ Scott McLaughlin | Team Penske | https://www.twitch.tv/scottmclaughlin93 |
| 4 | ๐จ๐ฆ Dalton Kellett | AJ Foyt Racing | https://www.twitch.tv/dalton_kellett |
| 8 | ๐ธ๐ช Marcus Ericsson | Chip Ganassi Racing | |
| 10 | ๐ช๐ธ รlex Palou | Chip Ganassi Racing | https://www.twitch.tv/alexpalou |
| 11 | ๐บ๐ธ Charlie Kimball | AJ Foyt Racing | |
| 12 | ๐ฆ๐บ Will Power | Team Penske | |
| 17 | ๐บ๐ธ Braden Eves | Road to Indy | |
| 18 | ๐ฆ๐ช Ed Jones | Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser-Sullivan | |
| 20 | ๐บ๐ธ Simon Sikes | Ed Carpenter Racing | |
| 21 | ๐ท๐บ Nikita Lastochkin | Ed Carpenter Racing | https://www.twitch.tv/nikitagoesracing |
| 30 | ๐ฏ๐ต Takuma Sato | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | https://www.twitch.tv/rahallettermanlanigan |
| 51 | ๐ซ๐ท Romain Grosjean | Dale Coyne Racing with RWR | https://www.twitch.tv/grosjeanromain |
| 52 | ๐ง๐ท Pietro Fittipaldi | Dale Coyne Racing with RWR | https://www.twitch.tv/fittipaldibrothers |
| 53 | ๐ฆ๐บ James Davison | Rick Ware Racing | |
| 59 | ๐ฌ๐ง Max Chilton | Carlin | |
| 75 | ๐บ๐ธ RC Enerson | Top Gun Racing | |
| 98 | ๐บ๐ธ Sage Karam | Andretti Autosport | https://www.twitch.tv/sagekaram24 |
Spotter Guide
[ Hastily screencapped Spotter Guide from a slightly-edit
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This Saturday the second round of the LIFT Formula NA championship (ARL Indy) will be held at Gilles Villeneuve. We still have a few grid spots available! You can compete solo or as a team of max 3 drivers. Do you want more information and the registration form? Join our Discord server! We hope to see you on track soon!
https://discord.gg/G2GxTSv
https://preview.redd.it/jxwa8kbs1sj71.jpg?width=2000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a381d5612f3c35c6a10aae698431f70cf2a065f9
Hey Montreal Cycling, I'm a fellow Canadian planning to visit your beautiful city after I'm fully vaccinated. One thing I wanna do during my visit is to cycle on the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. I heard it's open to the public most of the time. From the website I saw on every Wednesday there's a Cyclovia event. Do you think it's better to be there during Cyclovia?
Also, is it easy to rent a road bike for a day or 2 this year? Helmet? Any other advise?
Thank you!
