|
 The test at Sebring International Raceway was Montoya's first
opportunity to get in his new car. He last drove in IndyCar in 2000,
the year he won the Indianapolis 500 driving for Chip Ganassi.
Montoya spent seven seasons in NASCAR driving for Ganassi, but
signed with rival Roger Penske in September to return to IndyCar
when Ganassi decided not to bring the Colombian back for the 2014
season.
"I still don't believe it that I'm here, to be honest with you,"
Montoya said. "I look at the car and everything, my name on the car.
It's really exciting. It's nice because there's been excitement
(from) everybody that I'm coming back to open wheel."
New Penske teammates Will Power and Helio Castroneves both attended
the test, and Power prepared the car before turning the No. 2 over
to Montoya. Also on hand was Penske adviser and four-time
Indianapolis 500 winner Rick Mears.
Power was impressed with Montoya's first 20 laps, which weren't far
off the pace Power set over 10 laps while shaking down the car in
the morning. Montoya's speed did not surprise his new teammate.
"You don't win races in Formula One and poles in Formula One and
races in the CART Series on your first try if you're slow," Power
said. "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."
Added Castroneves: "He felt really comfortable in the car. I wasn't
expecting anything different to be honest. He was really relaxed."
Montoya described the first run as "really, really weird," because
of all the personal adjustments he had to make to the car.
"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," said
Montoya, adding that braking was difficult.
"You get on brakes and there's a bit of lag while the brakes get
hot. So it takes a while to get used to that, but you get used to
it. We're miles away from where I think I need to be, but second and
third run it was going through the gears, through the motions. It's
just so different. It's going to take a little bit of time."
Montoya was grateful Castroneves, Power and so many people from the
Penske organization were on hand.
"Really, everybody works together and is trying to get me up to
speed as fast as I can," Montoya said. "The faster I get up to
speed, the better it is for everybody."
Montoya had modest goals for Monday: He wanted to get comfortable in
the car and figure out what has changed since 2000, when he won the
Indianapolis 500 driving for Ganassi.
"I'm not going out there to try and break the track record on the
first lap," he said. "I'm going to build up to it and keep working
on the car and get the car to do what I want. You learn that as you
go through the years. When you are young, you drive the car anywhere
it is. Then you realize you can make it drive for you, you can
achieve the same things with half the effort."
Montoya won seven races in CART and the Indy 500 in his two seasons
competing in open wheel with Ganassi. Their run together also
included the 1999 CART championship. He then moved to Formula One,
where he spent six seasons before abruptly quitting to return to the
United States to compete in NASCAR. He reunited with Ganassi, but
the results never came.
[to top of second column] |
Montoya won one Nationwide race in 2007, and had
two Sprint Cup victories in 253 career starts. His last win in
NASCAR was in 2010, a year after he made the Chase for the
Sprint Cup championship and finished a career-best eighth in the
standings.
At a fan event prior to his final NASCAR race earlier this month
at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Montoya was blunt about his hopes
for his move to IndyCar — "I'm tired of sucking," he said.
He'll have an opportunity to be competitive with Penske, a
consistent contender in IndyCar for both the series championship
and at the Indy 500.
"He told us he'd drive anything in the building as long as it
could win," Penske team President Tim Cindric said at Sebring.
"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 don't
care who you are, it's going to take some time to learn those
nuances.
"One strength that Juan has is that he's mentally tough. He
doesn't let the little things bother him much. I think he takes
a pretty simple approach and I think that could pay off for him
in the series."
Montoya said he's not sure yet how he'll define success in
IndyCar.
"Do I want to win? Of course I want to win. Do I want to do the
best I can? Yeah. How good is that going to be? I don't know,"
he said. "You have to beat Will, who is one of the fastest guys
in the series. Helio has a ton of experience. I ran against him
when I won the championship, and he's still doing it.
"For them to get in the car every day, it's no big deal. This is
their home, and I need to make this my home."
Power, winner of 19 races since 2007 and a three-time runner-up
in the IndyCar championship race, believes Montoya will be a
strong addition to the Penske organization. Power hopes he can
measure his own ability against Montoya.
"It's cool to be a teammate to a guy that was successful in
Formula One. I've been wanting someone like that to go up
against and see where I'm at," Power said. "When I was younger
he was one of the guys I looked at as the best when I was trying
to get to that level. Even in CART, when you look at some of
those qualifying laps at Detroit, he was a very fast solid good
racer and driver."
Cindric is hopeful Montoya can push both Power and Castroneves
and get Penske another championship. Penske's last IndyCar title
was in 2006 with Sam Hornish Jr., and the team hasn't won the
Indy 500 since Castroneves in 2009.
Castroneves finished second to champion Scott Dixon this year,
and Power was runner-up in 2010 through 2012.
"For us a team, we have to figure out how to put a whole season
together," Cindric said. "There hasn't been a race in the last
how many years that I didn't feel like we couldn't win. Trying
to understand that championship mentality is something we failed
the last four, five, six years. We should have half the
championships from that span, but we don't.
"Maybe Juan can bring us that kind of mentality. He's learned a
lot from his transition from Formula One to NASCAR. He hasn't
had a successful teammate and we're going to be able to give him
a gauge."
[Associated
Press; JENNA FRYER, AP Auto Racing Writer]
Copyright 2013 The Associated
Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
