Juan Pablo Montoya is having a seat fit today in a closed-cockpit prototype, in what’s in essence a space ship on wheels: the Porsche 919 Hybrid.
While the Colombian is taking up residence in that car as a potential side opportunity, first via a test next month in Bahrain with the potential of a race appearance at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, he’d prefer his day job car keeps an open-cockpit.
Montoya, speaking to German broadcaster RTL, said IndyCar doesn’t need to adopt closed cockpits. Talk and calls have increased for that to occur in IndyCar following the death of Justin Wilson in August, and also with Jules Bianchi having succumbed to his injuries in July after his crash last October in the Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix.
“If someone can’t handle the danger, maybe you shouldn’t be racing,” Montoya told RTL, via GrandPrix.com.
“Everybody out there knows that risk is always a part of it. It is just part of being a racing driver.”
Montoya, who debuted in CART in 1999 in a year that series lost two drivers in two months (Gonzalo Rodriguez, then Greg Moore), would fall in line with the thinking of Sir Stirling Moss, who made comments at Lime Rock that closed cockpits in open-wheel would be “ridiculous.”
Immediate changes for 2016 won’t happen, Hulman & Co. CEO Mark Miles told USA Today Sports last week.
“You’re not going to see a change to the car for next year in this regard just because I don’t think it’s possible,” Miles said.