JACQUES VILLENEUVE is set to leave the Williams team and race for his own Grand Prix team in 1999, according to reports published in the British weekly magazines, Autocar and Motoring News, yesterday

Villeneuve (26), second in the world drivers' championship behind Michael Schumacher of Ferrari, is linked to a proposed Formula One 'superteam' to be created by British racing car constructor Reynard and the British-American Tobacco (BAT) company. The reports also said Villeneuve would take a shareholding in the team.

Villeneuve won the Indianapolis 500 and the Indy Car World Series drivers' title driving a Reynard car in 1995 and he and his manager Craig Pollock have maintained a strong relationship with the constructor, and BAT, ever since. A five-year deal between the two, worth Pounds 175 million has been agreed, according to the report.

. Eddie Jordan will announce a major sponsorship deal for his team in Dublin tomorrow morning. The agreement will be Jordan's first commercial link with a well-known Irish brand name.