Villeneuve and Pollock part company

The 1997 Formula One world champion announced last year he was switching to NASCAR and has already competed in two Cup events and seven Truck races, all of them driving Bill Davis Racing Toyotas.

Villeneuve's car ran with UNICEF livery at most of those events, as efforts to raise a full budget didn't come to fruition. Pollock was then linked with a buy-out of BDR but after months of negotiations his bid was unsuccessful.

In an interview with Le Journal de Montreal, Villeneuve said that Pollock's personal life had steered them in different directions.

"Craig has a new wife and he seems to want to concentrate on his new family life which will be centered in Europe," said Villeneuve. "As a newlywed and new father myself, I can understand he wants to focus on his family life.

"For my part, I chose to base myself here, in Canada, with my family, in order to pursue my career as a NASCAR driver. It's going well so far with Bill Davis Racing. I want to concentrate on it and do my things here."

Bill Davis Racing are currently trying to raise the budget that will allow Villeneuve to complete the full Sprint Cup season this year.

Sources close to the situation claim that they have already raised almost two thirds of it, with just a couple of weeks to go before the season-opening Daytona 500, leading to suggestions that Villeneuve would even have to finance part of his drive.

Pollock and Villeneuve first met in the early 1980s in Switzerland, where the former was a sports teacher. They then met again ten years later in Japan when the Canadian was competing in Formula Three, and started their driver-manager relationship in 1993 before Villeneuve headed to the US.

In 1999 and following just months of negotiations and preparation, Pollock led British American Racing into its debut season in Formula One and hired Villeneuve as their number one driver.

But in 2002 Pollock was sacked from his role with the team and Villeneuve was replaced at the end of the 2003 season before BAR had won a Grand Prix.