He began participating in Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) in the 1994 season for Forsythe-Green Racing in the No. 12 Reynard 94I-Ford XB vehicle after Green obtained sponsorship. Villeneuve debuted at the season-opening Australian FAI Indycar Grand Prix at Surfers Paradise Street Circuit, starting eighth and finishing 17th after colliding with Stefan Johansson. In the season's next round, the Valvoline 200 at Phoenix International Raceway, he was involved in an five-car accident which saw him sustain a side collision with Hiro Matsushita and was then struck by Dominic Dobson. Villeneuve qualified for his first Indianapolis 500 fourth and took second to be the Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year as the highest-finishing rookie. Villeneuve finished no lower than ninth in six of the next nine rounds, before beating Al Unser Jr. and Emerson Fittipaldi in the &lt;a href="1994%20Texaco/Havoline%20200"&gt;Texaco/Havoline 200&lt;/a&gt; at Road America road course in his first CART victory. He finished seventh and third in the final two rounds for sixth in the Drivers' Championship with 94 points and won Rookie of the Year honours.