Montoya is back

[Hard Driver]

I am interested to see how Montoya does at Penske. Never had a competitive car in Nascar. He teammates at Ganassi never did well either. But getting in a Penske with Powers an Castroneves will be a true test to see if he still has it.

[stroker]

It'll be interesting to see how they handle the K-Y sponsorship due to having to slather him up to get him in the tub. :)

[SurfaceUnits]

Juan Pablo Montoya completed the first test of his Penske IndyCar return at Sebring on Monday.

His 2014 team-mate Will Power shook down the car in the early morning before handing over to Montoya - the 1999 CART champion - who managed 20 laps before midday.

The Colombian has not driven an Indycar since 2000, the year he won the Indianapolis 500 for Ganassi.

He has spent the last seven and a half years competing in NASCAR, but confirmed in September that he would quit stock cars and the Ganassi squad to return to IndyCar as part of a three-car full-time Penske entry.

Speaking ahead of the test, Montoya admitted it would take time to reacquaint himself with single seaters.

"Going from stock car to IndyCar, to be 100 per cent will take a little bit of time," Montoya said.

"I think the weird factor will be the first morning, just getting acclimatised.

"There are two sides to testing: one is the excitement of getting in the car, [but] it's also nerve-wracking: it's time to go.

"It will be so exciting because it has tonnes of power, tonnes of grip. Going back to carbon brakes I think will be really exciting."



Yower weight is over:

Penske pleased with Juan Pablo Montoya's IndyCar test return pace
By Matt Beer Tuesday, November 26th 2013, 08:45 GMT

Juan Pablo Montoya, Penske, Sebring IndyCar test November 2013

Penske declared itself immediately impressed with Juan Pablo Montoya's pace on his IndyCar test return, as he lapped close to series frontrunner Will Power's times at Sebring on Monday.

Three-time series runner-up Power set benchmark times for new team-mate Montoya in the morning before handing the car over to the Colombian, who is making his single-seater return after seven and a
half years in NASCAR following his Formula 1 departure.

Penske team president Tim Cindric said Montoya had shown his speed straight away.

"He was within a few tenths of Will in the first outing," said Cindric. "It was pretty impressive really.

"We put him out on old tyres just to learn where the gearshifts were and then put him back on Will's tyre and he was within a couple tenths right out of the box."

Montoya rated his performance as "an eight" out of 10.

"The biggest thing is that everything is still happening really fast," he said.

"It's OK but as it happens so fast you end up making mistakes. More time in the car and everything will slow down and it will be easier.

"That's kind of normal and it's happened to me before a few times, so I know that with time everything will be easier. I'm happy.

"I'm surprised the speed has been pretty good. Just a few too many mistakes. Like my engineer said, 'just a bit sloppy'. It's understandable for a first day."

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/111622/

[SurfaceUnits]

573

[chop456]

"What's it like having no press around to bother you?" :tony:

[Rogue Leader]

Wow he actually looks slim, I heard he lost 15 lbs already to prepare....

[mueber]

Not good enough for Formula 1,
Not good enough for NASCAR,
but...

[Gnam]

Now Indycar is where drivers go to get retired.