Gray hair continues to grow in his hair, but despite his 45th birthday, he continues to enjoy the adrenaline of accelerating hard in the passenger compartment of his car in search of more and more triumphs. This is Juan Pablo Montoya, the most important pilot in the country’s history, who will hit the road next Saturday (3:40 PM, with Fox Sports 3 TV in four blocks of three hours) in search of his fourth title in the 24 hours from Daytona.
You may be interested: (Everton’s ’10’ reflected on the work of James Rodríguez).
Now with the team Meyer Shank Racing, and along with Olivier Pla, Dane Cameron, his longtime partner in the IMSA races with Penske, and Nascar man AJ Allmendinger, he will attempt another triumph on a track he knows as if it were his own. parking spot.
In an interview with TIME, Montoya, winner in 2007, 2008 and 2013, spoke about what this test will be.
How do you analyze this for you in 2021 with new challenges?
The truth is, the new challenges are quite interesting. I think it’s a special year, because I’m going to do all the races you could dream of. I’m going to ride the Indianapolis 500, I’m going to ride the 24 Hours of Daytona and Le Mans. We hope it will be a good year.
How does car racing live in the middle of the pandemic?
The truth has been very influenced by the fans, who have not been able to take to the slopes, although it opens up a bit here in the United States, but very limited. The team part is a bit different as there are no live driver meetings. Many of those things have changed, but you have to work with what’s out there.
Also Read: (Rough Story: This Is How Mariana Pajón Experienced the Covid-19 Contamination).
How’s the car?
It’s complicated because we are four drivers so none of them have had much time to drive. The two drivers who are full-time have turned a little more than us. Anyway, the car had some things that we needed to improve, that were changed and improved. I have a feeling that we will be very competitive this weekend.
The car in which Juan Pablo Montoya will drive in the 24 Hours of Daytona.
What do you think the strongest rivals will be?
The strongest rivals are without a doubt the Cadillacs. They are cars that adapt very well to this track, they are very strong and they complicate our lives a bit, but we wait for it to go well and have a good weekend. You still have to run and see how competitive we are and see what opportunities there are. The car has yet to take good points for the championship with the full-time drivers.
Is it considered a favorite?
The chances of winning are very high. In the last two years the car was very fast, but we had mechanical failures, really stupid. So if we can have a race where the car doesn’t let us down or we don’t have any problems, the result will be good. That’s always the million dollar question, “What happens during the race?” That contributed to the possibility of whether something will fail, or everything will survive and on that basis people look at what they are for.
Juan Pablo Montoya, Colombian pilot.
Mistakes can damn a career …
We were 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 affect. The temperature has been very cold, this Saturday (today) also looks cold, but on Sunday (tomorrow) it will be a bit warm. We have to wait and see what the job brings us. This team was also with Acura, but with the NSX car and now they are with the prototype, they are learning a lot of things, the pit stops. You need to minimize mistakes instead of doing things right. One mistake takes about 15 things to do right.
Also: (Punishment to Ibrahimovic and Lukaku, for their strong showdown).
What will be the strategy they have designed?
They have planned for me to finish my studies, but that always changes. They tell you we are going to do three or four shifts, but if we are very hung up or if we miss some speed and there is one person going faster, they drive it and spend many more hours on it. If it’s as planned, I’ll be in the car for about six or seven hours, but I’m almost always driving around 10.
FELIPE VILLAMIZAR M.
Editor of EL TIEMPO
And Twitter: @ FelipeVilla4