Villeneuve parts ways with Venturi and Conway gets in

Three races was the longest that lasted the commitment of Jacques Villeneuve in the FIA Formula E this season, as he ended his contract with the Venturi Formula E Team according to a statement released by the team this Friday (22).

The 44-year old Canadian racer was contracted by the Monegasque squad to be one of their full season drivers along with Stéphane Sarrazin, replacing German ace Nick Heidfeld. After what was called by Venturi as a disagreement over the future direction of the team, both sides decided to part ways from now on.

The short spell in Formula E was a sequence of bad results and problems for Villeneuve, who failed to score a single point. At Beijing, he was victim of a contact with Antônio Felix da Costa, while at Putrajaya he barely missed the points as he finished 11th. His last race was expected to be the Punta del Este ePrix, but he damaged the car in the qualifying to a point that Villeneuve was unable to be present in the starting grid.

But Venturi had a single driver for a very short time, as a little later they announced that British driver Mike Conway will replace Villeneuve in their second car from the Buenos Aires ePrix. The Toyota Gazoo Racing member is adding another commitment to his current schedule with the Japanese manufacturer in the FIA World Endurance Championship.

Conway is used with both sides of the Formula E machinery, as he has his long open-wheel experience specially in IndyCar combined with his short experience in hybrid cars due to his two seasons with Toyota in their LMP1 machine.Another thing to add in Conway's favor is that his team mate is no more than his current Toyota partner Sarrazin, and this will help Conway to settle quickly with the basics of the Spark-Venturi F-E car.

The Buenos Aires ePrix, which will be Conway's Formula E debut, will be on February 6th on the streets of Puerto Madero.

PHOTOS: Venturi Formula E Team