Earlier today, Juan Pablo Montoya tweeted the following in advance of his official return to IndyCar tomorrow in a test session for Team Penske:
And we can’t wait to see if the Colombian can return to greatness in his second open-wheel go-round. With his stock car career over for now, the former Indianapolis 500 winner, CART champion, and Formula One standout is preparing for a return to the top.
One of his new teammates, three-time “500” winner and 2013 IndyCar championship runner-up Helio Castroneves, feels that Montoya’s addition to the Penske stable will make for a “dynamic” atmosphere between the two of them and Aussie driver Will Power.
“I think [Montoya will] fit in well,” Castroneves said this week. “People talk about the way Team Penske works, but we try to get everybody involved and in sync because getting a rhythm will benefit the team, which is the goal.
“He’s a talent, no question about it. We’ll be competitive, but it will be a healthy competition. But the most important thing is to help Team Penske.”
Montoya hasn’t been able to spend too much time with his new teammates, but they have been giving him valuable information on the DW-12 when they’ve been able to meet up.
“We haven’t really talked too much because I was finishing the NASCAR deal,” Montoya said in an IndyCar.com video interview (which you can see above). “When we made the announcement, I went to the [Penske] shop and Will was there, and I spent quite a bit of time with Will talking about the car and everything.”
It may take some time before Montoya fully grasps what the DW-12 can do and adapts to being back in an open-wheel car again. But he’s been looking forward to this opportunity for some time now, and he believes the flip from stock cars to IndyCars will be a good one to have made.
“I’m excited,” he said to the Associated Press last weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway before his final run in a Cup machine. “I haven’t been in a [IndyCar] since 2000, but I think it’s going to be like riding a bike and I think change is going to be good.
“Working with other people is going to be good. I think this is going to be good for everybody.”
