Juan Pablo Montoya to test Risi Racing Ferrari 488 GTLM today at Sebring. This should get tongues wagging. Seen in these images at the opening of the new Curated dealership in Miami last Friday evening, I asked JPM what his plans were for the year and he said "Indy only so far". I asked about sports cars, he was rather sheepish and said "We'll see!". He was in good form at the ROC Miami event winning the individual event in the finale against Tom Kristensen. IMSA - IMSA: Montoya to sample Risi Ferrari on Friday BHW Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Not sure how exciting the news might be. As Sims says, its just a courtesy test. Will see what the times are today. Keeping in mind JPM tested a Porsche 919 Hybrid last year and he is linked to Penske's entry into IMSA prototype next year with HPD engines which Cindric all but confirmed a week or two ago. Either way though, looks as though JPM's future is in sports cars. BHW
Love watching Jaun from his beginnings way back in CART. A very talented and exciting driver for sure if not a bit of a "battering ram".
I still chuckle over the incident where he plowed into the back of a jet dryer at Daytona, dumping fuel and setting the track on fire, delaying the race for hours while they a) put the fire out and b) repaired the track. Joie Chitwood was in Race Control with the NASCAR and the TV network guys screaming at him about the long delay. He yelled back "For Christ sake, the ******* track is on fire! We don't practice that ****!" Montoya commented later "I've crashed into a lot of things in my career, but that was a first for me."
Can never see him without hearing "owwww, my head, you broke my effing head" and thinking of his "just permanently menstrual" nickname from years ago. As for Penske and prototypes - I think they could do far better.
Just yesterday I read something about a driver waiting in the wings for Helio's slot and now I can't recall the name or even where I read it. Grrr... where'd I leave those memory supplement pills?
Only turned 8-10 laps and a few turns were new to him. JPM has a lot of dough, and could easily contribute $ towards a test. He's still plenty fast.
My best (and perhaps only) Montoya story happened at Sebring, must have been post-98 CART season I was called by the Bettenhausen team sponsor to come shoot a post season test with Helio Castroneves driving and super sub Roberto Moreno waiting in the wings. As was usually the case after the end of the CART season, there were a lot of teams present at Sebring including Target Ganassi for the open test. Most of the teams were out in the morning dialing in set-ups or doing controlled tire tests. Both Goodyear and Firestone were there which was a bit unusual but everyone was getting on with their programs except for Ganassi as everyone knew Montoya was there and anxious to see how he'd do. Anyway, not much was happening in the Target Ganassi compound most of the day. Things were pretty quiet and none of the cars were running. At lunch, the late great Tony Bettenhausen pulled me aside and asked what was going on at Ganassi over in the next pit stall. I told him, "Nothing basically". Bettenhausen asked if I'd venture down to Ganassi after lunch to have another look around. I had a look and reported back the same thing, "Nothing, a couple of mechanics detailing the cars, not much else". A little later, a FedEx truck came chugging over the bridge into Greenpark and parked right behind the Ganassi compound. This caught everyone's attention so I ventured down again and FedEx was delivering some large boxes which the mechanics were quickly whisking into the tent and the flaps suddenly went down. The boxes contained Firestone tires already mounted on their wheels. The first set of these special tires were bolted on the car and a few minutes later, Montoya who was doing his first test for Ganassi after he and Zanardi swapped F-1 seats at Williams, went straight out and set the fastest lap of the day by quite a large margin (perhaps a second or more) to the exasperation of the rest of the teams on pit road. When Montoya won at Long Beach the next season in only his third CART race and later as a rookie at Indy, it came as absolutely no surprise. BHW
Exactly and for the Penske / Honda DPi program there are sportscar guys that are a better investment than ageing Indycar drivers. Sorry Helio. JPM - meh, don't let the door hit you in the arse on your way out. PS: nobody started a thread on the Gentilozzi / RHR case? I'm tempted to do a bunch of venting on that front. lol
This is where the his name cropped up: https://www.racer.com/indycar/item/138326-taylor-fast-on-indycar-test-debut
Article on JPM's Sebring test. No times posted that I've seen so far. https://www.motorsport.com/imsa/news/montoya-interested-in-racing-ferrari-gt-876940/ BHW
They were posted less than a 1/4 hour after session 4 (post 8). I checked at 14 mins. and they were there:
Oh sheet!!! "Sorry BW. 'Meant to post the link and 'thought I did the right stuff. 'Not hard, I know, but it sho' ain't there. For future reference here you go (I hope): IMSA - Timing Results Okay. I previewed the post this time (same way....?) and it's there. Let's see what happens.