# Montoya back in IndyCar



## MCSL (Jan 30, 2005)

Montoya admitted it would take time to reacquaint himself with open-wheel cars.

"I still don't believe it that I'm here, to be honest with you. You look at it. I look at the car and everything. My name on the car. It's really exciting. It's nice because of there's been excitement of everybody that I'm coming back to open-wheel. It's exciting that they [Power and Castroneves] are here and willing to help. That's what Team Penske is all about. Really, everybody works together and trying to get me up to speed as fast as I can. The faster I get up to speed, the better it is for everybody."

Power added that he was sure Montoya would quickly be up to speed.

"You don't win races in Formula 1 and poles in Formula 1 and races in the CART series on your first try if you're slow," he noted. "I actually expected to learn from him. He's already brought some good ideas to the team even before he got in the car. Just from what I see from the data he has a very similar style to me. The way he brakes and everything. That should be good as far as our setups."

"I know he's going to be bloody quick, and with quick teammates, that just raises the bar. You just learn from each other."

By the second stint of his three-stint, 20-lap morning session, Montoya was within three-tenths of Will Power's fastest lap during a pre-test shakedown and within half a second of the fastest laps during last year's IndyCar spring test at Sebring. In fact, Montoya was so comfortable in the Dallara-Chevrolet that he had to remind himself about pace and patience.

"That's going to be the hardest thing for me," he said. "I'm not that far off, but I want to build to it. I think it's better to go from here to there instead of wasting three or four hours fixing the car. I'm trying to build it slow."

He is the only first-attempt winner of the CART Indy car championship, the Indy 500 and the 24 Hours of Daytona. The only other CART rookie champion? Nigel Mansell, of course.

http://www.racer.com/montoya-begins-indycar-test-return/article/322590/










CART 1999

Montoya _ Reynard 99I ***8211; Honda HRS


----------



## MCSL (Jan 30, 2005)

"The biggest thing is that everything is still happening really fast," Montoya said. "It's OK, but as it happens so fast you end up making mistakes. With more time in the car, everything will slow down and it will be easier. It's happened to me before a few times, so I know that with time everything will be easier."

"The first run was really, really weird. We did a little bit of build-up on the (steering) wheel to supposedly give it more leverage and I think we overdid it a little bit," he related. "The position of the wheel was really different. With a Cup wheel, you try to put it as low as you can, but it's so big, the wheel is a lot higher, so getting comfortable is a little bit different.

"I'll tell you, the motor runs really good. When you give it the gas, it has a ton of torque ***8211; that's fun. Braking is hard. For what I've been running the last few years, the first few laps, it's like OK. The initial bite is not bad. You get on the brakes and there's a bit of lag while the brakes get hot. So it takes a while to get used to that.

"It's just so different. It's going to take a little bit of time. Like Will says, when he understeers he can feel in the friggin' wheel that he's losing the front end of the car. I'm like, 'You don't know what sliding is. You should drive a Cup car. That's like 10 percent of what I'm used to.'"

While he gave himself "8 out of 10" for his first day in the car, Montoya noted that he pushed a little too hard in spots.

"It's fun but at the same time, you end up trying too hard. The couple of places I started good, I'm trying to roll through fast and killing the exits," he explained. "I have to get to a point where I'm actually comfortable to understand and know the limits of the car. My biggest concern was the (steering) wheel and how heavy was it going to be. The good thing is we're here and it's not that bad yet. You can tell that we started on old scuff tires and the steering was really light, but then we put new tires on and I was like, 'Oh, OK that's what they mean.' It hasn't been that bad.

"You sit in the car and they show you [data] and you see, 'Oh OK, I'm braking like a (sissy) here and I'm not fast enough here.' I think that's going to be the hardest thing. The fastest corner here is what we call Turn 3 and I go in and down the gears and I'm like, 'No, not yet.' I'm not that far off, but I want to build to it. I want to go from here to there, and not go for it and waste three or four hours fixing the car and going at it again. I'm trying to build it slow."

"He was within a few tenths of Will in the first outing," Cindric said. "It was pretty impressive, really. We put him out on old tires just to learn where the gear shifts were and then put him back on Will's tire and he was within a couple tenths right out of the box.

"Right now it's happening pretty fast ***8211; he's probably a half a second off the guys who were here last week, but that's not too bad. Finding the last half second without losing his confidence will be the challenge. He's a quick learner, for sure. I think the difference is going to be getting him to understand what it takes to win.

"I think somebody like Will really understands not only how to go fast, but how to save fuel; when to save fuel; who your competitors are. Which ones you can trust, which ones you can't. I don't care who you are, it's going to take some time to learn those nuances.

"I know he's a good study. Before he came here, he watched a lot of video. He doesn't sit around and think he'll hop in the car and be fast. I think he'll be a lot like Will in that he will come to the race prepared. Will knows what happened the past few years, what he did, what the other guys did. Juan came here prepared and did his homework."

http://www.racer.com/montoya-relishes-first-indycar-test/article/322619/


----------



## MCSL (Jan 30, 2005)

CART 2000 Fontana Practice

Montoya _ Lola B2K/00 ***8211; Toyota RV8E _ 30.152 _ 242.253 mph

Top Speed _ > 250 mph

In his final CART appearance before embarking on what promises to be a hugely successful Formula One career, Juan Montoya blitzed the field at the Fontana Superspeedway cutting a best lap of 30.152 seconds. The Colombian's best effort was just thousandths shy of Mauricio Gugelmin's all time track record set in practice for the 1997 event.

The Target/Chip Ganassi Lola-Toyota driver finished practice a massive .385 seconds ahead of his nearest rival, the Marlboro Team Penske Reynard-Honda of Championship leader Gil De Ferran on a cloudy day in California.

Morning rain delayed practice for several hours and temperatures were low when practice finally began, a situation that allowed Montoya to clock an average speed of over 242 mph on his best run. The Colombian was the only driver to break the 240 mph barrier on a day where only three other drivers got within half a second of the leader.

De Ferran was more than pleased with second place as he easily outpaced all his other title rivals, Honda's new 1000hp single-wastegate qualifying engine proving to be a vital factor around the smooth 2-mile Roger Penske owned facility.


----------



## MCSL (Jan 30, 2005)

Montoya is grinning, bouncing on his heels, looking 20 years younger than his age of 38. He, Mears, fellow Team Penske racer Will Power, and Penske president Tim Cindric circle around the car and talk about the lapping session. To be more accurate, the group mostly listens as Montoya, still bouncing, gesticulates wildly, making steering motions with his hands, and makes fun of himself for missing shifts and braking points, which isn't surprising considering he has been braking a 3300-pound Chevy-roughly twice as heavy as the car he just climbed out of-and shifting a manual four-speed gearbox rather than steering-wheel-mounted paddles.

There are other things to re-learn. Montoya can see the front wheels, but he's having a little trouble remembering where the outside of the back wheels are.

Frankly, Montoya seemed pretty comfortable right away. Teammate Power, who won three races in this car last year, set a base time before Montoya took over, and in short order, Montoya was just three tenths of a second behind Power.

The third Penske driver, Helio Castroneves, made the trip up from Miami to support Montoya-a particularly genuine gesture considering he didn't tell the Penske people he was coming. Penske Racing's three-driver IndyCar team is going to be a formidable one.

The bottom line for IndyCar: Montoya's return could not come at a better time, given the unfortunate and unexpected retirement of the series' most popular driver, Dario Franchitti, after his horrible crash at Houston. Certainly Franchitti will return in some capacity, whether it is as a mentor or a broadcaster, but it won't be the same. Montoya brings his NASCAR fans with him, and perhaps brings back some of his IndyCar fans who have strayed from the sport.

You might think that as he gets older, and the fact that he is a dedicated family man, IndyCar's 18-race schedule-half the number of NASCAR's races-would appeal, and he says it does. "But what really appealed to me was being able to run for Roger Penske, and be in a winning car, and work with Will and Helio and the rest of the Penske crew."

http://blog.caranddriver.com/juan-p...-win-races-which-means-the-same-thing-to-him/

CART 1999

Montoya _ Reynard 99I ***8211; Honda HRS


----------



## MCSL (Jan 30, 2005)

CART 2000

Montoya _ Lola B2K/00 ***8211; Toyota RV8E


----------



## MCSL (Jan 30, 2005)

Juan Pablo Montoya completed the second round of his acclimation to an IndyCar Series car during a one-day test at Phoenix International Raceway on Dec 10.

Helio Castroneves and team advisor Rick Mears joined Montoya at Phoenix. Castroneves took some early laps to shake down the car.

"Well, my first impression was when Helio started running. We did some laps in the road car and I said in NASCAR we brake here and here," Montoya said. "And he was like, 'No, this is going to be wide open.' I'm like, 'What?' I will tell you, if you are standing in pit road and watch in Turn 1 how the car goes. In the straight it just goes fast, but you don't really realize how fast he's going until he turns and the thing just snaps into the corner. And then you go into (Turns) 3 and 4 and 'Wow.' Your foot never moved."

"For me, the big difference is the entry to the corner. Once you get to the middle of the corner, whatever speed you have, you are committed to. You can see the exit, too, and you're like, 'Ahhh.'"

"You just want to build to it and get comfortable with the feel. I'm still trying to understand what the car wants and what I want out of the car. You forget how fast an open-wheel car is (on the Phoenix oval). Around six seconds quicker than a NASCAR Cup car a lap."

"It's funny because it's a lighter car, but the wheel is like -- everybody complained when I ran NASCAR how heavy my wheel was, everybody that drove my car, and honestly because we have no power steering, that's how heavy it is," Montoya continued. "What I remember, road courses, I understand it's heavy, but I never thought that it would be heavy on an oval, but it's like, 'Hold your breath and turn.' It's breathtaking. The more laps I do, the easier it becomes, and it's just that little bit."

http://www.racer.com/montoya-contin...o-indy-cars-with-phoenix-test/article/325213/


----------



## MCSL (Jan 30, 2005)

CART 2000

Montoya _ Lola B2K/00 ***8211; Toyota RV8E


----------



## F1Crazy (Dec 11, 2002)

Wow, I'm surprised he fits in a cockpit...


----------



## MCSL (Jan 30, 2005)

Sonoma Test


----------



## MCSL (Jan 30, 2005)

Montoya's Toys


----------



## MCSL (Jan 30, 2005)

Oval Tests

Despite the best efforts of Mother Nature, Juan Pablo Montoya completed his first two IndyCar Series oval track tests for Team Penske this week at both Phoenix International Raceway (PIR) and Auto Club Speedway (ACS). The team was originally scheduled to test at ACS on Monday, Dec. 9 and PIR on Wednesday, Dec. 11, but high winds in Fontana, Calif. forced an adjustment to the schedule as the Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet instead ran at PIR on Tuesday and ACS on Thursday.

The tests marked the first time in an IndyCar on an oval for the 1999 CART Series champion and 2000 Indianapolis 500 winner since the 2000 season. Team Penske teammate, Helio Castroneves, turned a handful of laps at each venue before turning things over to Montoya. Each day Montoya improved his lap times and was able to get close to the times set by Castroneves, a 16-time oval winner in IndyCar, including three Indianapolis 500 victories.

"These were two important tests for me, especially the Phoenix test," said Montoya, who ran his first test for the team at the Sebring road course on Nov. 25-26. "The short ovals are going to be my biggest challenge because you have to run flat-out. That wasn't the case when I was in the series in 1999 and 2000. The speed you carry through the corners is unbelievable."

In his NASCAR Cup Series career, Montoya made a combined 25 starts at both PIR and ACS.

"The way you drive these two tracks is completely different from NASCAR to IndyCar," continued Montoya. "We're running about six seconds a lap faster than in NASCAR. I appreciate Helio making time to come out. He was a huge help. I learned a long time ago that it's easier on you to work on the car and make it do what you want. Before I would just drive it but today we had a great plan and took small steps to get where we needed to be."

In addition to Castroneves, engineers from all three Team Penske teams were in attendance at both tests. Everyone came away impressed with Montoya and excited about his addition to the Team Penske lineup.

"I told Roger (Penske) that it's easy to see why he has so much success in this series," said Montoya. "These cars are so fast. The people on these teams are very talented. I'm excited about this chapter of my career."

http://www.penskeracing.com/news/index.cfm?cat_id=616&cid=51983


----------



## MCSL (Jan 30, 2005)

Team Penske's Juan Pablo Montoya turned his pole position for the 500-mile Verizon IndyCar Series race at Pocono into his first victory of the year, using a perfect blend of patience and aggression to pass his teammate Will Power for the win.

Montoya drove with great composure, stretched his fuel mileage, and found himself atop and Indy car podium for the first time in 5406 days.

"I want to thank Roger [Penske] for believing in me," said an overjoyed JPM. "He believed I could do it. It's so awesome."

http://racer.com/indycar/item/105211-indycar-montoya-s-day-comes-at-pocono


----------



## MCSL (Jan 30, 2005)

2015 St Pete Race

No. 2 Verizon Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet
Driver: Juan Pablo Montoya
Start: 4
Finish: 1
Status: Running
Laps Completed: 110/110
Laps Led: 27
Points Position: 1st (54 points)

THE RACE REVIEW
Juan Pablo Montoya led the final 27 laps of the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on Sunday, surviving late-Cutrace contact with teammate Will Power with 11 laps remaining to win. After beginning the 110-lap event from the fourth position, Montoya was a fixture in the top five all afternoon. It was Montoya***8217;s first IndyCar victory on a road or street course since he won the CART Series race in Vancouver, British Columbia, in 1999 before he went on to compete in Formula 1 and NASCAR.

Montoya moved past Power on Lap 82 when Power, who had led much of the race, came out of the pits behind Montoya. The two raced closely until the end of the race, but on Lap 101 of the 110-lap race, they made contact in Turn 10 when Power tried to pass Montoya on the inside. Power***8217;s right front wing struck Montoya***8217;s left rear bumper, but Montoya was able to pull away. It was the 13th victory of Montoya***8217;s IndyCar career. It also was Team Penske***8217;s seventh 1-2 finish in IndyCar racing, the last coming in August 2014 when Power led Montoya to the finish line at the Milwaukee Mile. In addition it was Team Penske***8217;s landmark 175th IndyCar victory.

WHAT THEY ARE SAYING
***8220;It was a good day. I was pretty good on black tires, I think that was the key. The tires were not falling off and right there at the end I was just running slow to look after them. When I needed to push, I could push. Everybody with Verizon and Team Penske did an amazing job, Chevy as well. This aero kit is amazing to drive.***8221;

(On Power***8217;s late pass attempt for the lead) ***8220;I saw him make the move, but he was way too far back and I wasn***8217;t going to give him the position. If he was beside me, I would have said, ***8216;OK, go ahead.***8217; When I got to the turning point, he wasn***8217;t even close. It is a shame we touched, but it***8217;s all good. It***8217;s racing.***8221;

http://www.teampenske.com/news/index.cfm?cat_id=645&cid=52626

http://www.racer.com/indycar/item/114981-indycar-montoya-grabs-st-petersburg-victory-114981

http://www.racer.com/more/viewpoints/item/115002-miller-montoya-the-same-only-different

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHZPyKiDJ7o


----------

