There is more and more white hair in her hair, but no matter how old she is, she continues to enjoy the adrenaline of being in the cockpit of her car, speeding deep in search of more and more triumphs. This is Juan Pablo Montoya, the most important driver in the history of the country, who this Saturday (03:40 pm, with Fox Sports 3 TV in four three-hour blocks), will go out in search of his fourth title in the 24 Hours of Daytona.
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Now with the team Meyer Shank Racing, And alongside Olivier Pla, Dane Cameron, his old IMSA racing partner with Penske, and Nascar man AJ Allmendinger, will attempt a new triumph on a circuit he knows as if it were his parking lot.
In an interview with THE WEATHER, Montoya, winner in 2007, 2008 and 2013, talked about what this test will be like.
How do you analyze this 2021 for you with new challenges?
The truth is the new challenges are quite interesting. I think it’s a special year, because I’m going to run all the races that one would dream of going to. I’m going to run the Indianapolis 500 Miles, I’m going to run the 24 Hours of Daytona and Le Mans. We hope it is a good year.
How is motoring lived in the middle of the pandemic?
The truth has been greatly affected by the fans, who have not been able to go to the tracks, although here in the United States it is opening a little, but very limited. The team part is a little different, because there are no live driver meetings. Many of these things have changed, but it’s up to you to work with what’s there.
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How is the cart?
It’s tricky, because we’re four pilots, so none have had much time to manage. The two pilots who are full time have turned a little more than us. But hey, the cart had a couple of things we needed to improve on that have been changed and have come to improve. I feel like we will be very competitive this weekend.
The car that will drive Juan Pablo Montoya in the 24 Hours of Daytona.
What do you think will be the strongest rivals?
The strongest rivals, without a doubt, are the Cadillacs. They are cars that fit very well on this track, they go very strong and complicate our lives a bit, but we are hoping that things will go well and have a good weekend. We still have to run and look at how competitive we are and look at what opportunities there are. Equally the car has to take good points for the championship with the full time riders.
Does it look like a favorite?
The chances of winning are very high. In the last two years the car had been very fast, but we had mechanical faults, the truth very stupid. So if we can have a race in which the cart does not fail us or we have no problems the result will be good. This is always the million dollar question: ‘what will happen during the race?’. This added to the possibility of if something is going to fail, if everything survives and based on that you look at why one is.
Juan Pablo Montoya, Colombian pilot.
Mistakes can condemn a career …
We’ve been very strong in practice, but you have to see when the race starts who shows what. A 24-hour race is tricky, because the track changes a lot, there are mistakes and there are other things that influence. The temperature has been very cold, this Saturday (today) also looks cold, but Sunday (morning) warmed up a bit. Let’s wait and see what the clue brings us. This team was also with Acura, but with the NSX cart and now they are with the prototype, they are learning a lot, the breast stops. You need to minimize mistakes rather than do things right. A mistake costs how to do 15 things right.
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What will be the strategy they have designed?
They have planned for me to finish the race, but that always changes. One is told that we will do three or four shifts, but if we are very hung up or we lack a bit of speed and there is a person who goes faster as they ride it and put in many more hours. If it’s as planned, I drive the car for like six or seven hours, but I almost always end up driving like 10.
FELIPE VILLAMIZAR M.
Editor of EL TEMPS
On Twitter: @ FelipeVilla4