Jacques Villeneuve on Sunday secured his first win since his world championship year - 1997 - in Formula One.

The French-Canadian, who left the sport's premier category two years ago, raced to victory for Peugeot in the 1000 kilometre Spa-Francorchamps round of the European Le Mans Series in Belgium.

37-year-old Villeneuve's team-mates were Ferrari test driver Marc Gene and Nicolas Minassian.

"The weekend was excellent preparation for the Le Mans 24 hours and it was also very nice to win a race again," Villeneuve said. "My last victory dated back to the 1997 Luxemburg Grand Prix!"

Also competing at Spa, in another Peugeot 908, was Honda's F1 reserve driver Alex Wurz, who had to miss the Turkish Grand Prix as a result. He retired his Peugeot 908 after a heavy crash.