Gene and his regular Peugeot partner Nicolas Minassian teamed-up with Villeneuve at Le Mans for the 24-hour race last year, and with the former Grand Prix driver returning to the team for next month's 24-hour race, this weekend's 1000km race is seen as a pre-Le Mans practice for the trio.

Gene said: "Nicolas and I enjoyed driving with Jacques last year and when we heard that he was being employed again for Le Mans, we were both very keen to share a car with him at Spa."

He continued: "Anyone who wins the F1 World Championship is a great driver and I am very pleased to have him as my team-mate. We drove well together last year and hope that the race at Spa will help us develop the partnership and the car ahead of Le Mans next month."

Gene and Minassian are the current leaders of the Le Mans Series, and with Villeneuve's added strength, head to Spa-Francorchamps as favourites. The number 8 Peugeot of Pedro Lamy, Stephane Sarrazin and Alex Wurz is expected to be on the pace and offer their strongest opposition.

Other cars looking for victory include the Audi Sport Team Joest cars of Allan McNish/Dindo Capello and Mike Rockenfeller/Alexandre Premat, while the Whittlebury-based Strakka Racing team make their LMS debut with Peter Hardman and Nick Leventis driving a GT1-specification Aston Martin DBR9.