Montoya moves to NASCAR

After Jacques Villeneuve hinted at moving out to NASCAR if he would not find a place at F1, Juan Pablo Montoya did the unexpected and will move ahead to the spectacular American series next year. The globe & mail newspaper also reported that Chip Ganassi is happy to see Montoya back at his team after the two were very succesful in earlier year at the CART series.

Montoya joined F1 at Williams where he was applauded for his aggression and intense driving style. It was a true refreshment to F1 after several top drivers at that time made notice of the impossibility to overtake another driver. Juan Pablo however, after a dispute at Williams, decided to move to McLaren 2 years ago but he has never been able to confirm on his Williams form. The Columbian was and is still having serious difficulties with the understeery character of the McLaren car.

Juan Pablo will rejoin Chip Ganassi, the team manager that led him to success the CART championship in 1999 and his Indy500 win in 2000. Montoya joined Ganassi at Chicagoland Speedway on Sunday morning, meeting with his new crew members and attending a closed-door meeting with NASCAR president Mike Helton and other series officials.

Globe and mail quote Montoya by saying: "I want to get back to racing". Ganassi said Montoya might be available to drive in selected NASCAR races, perhaps in the Busch Series, after he finishes the Formula One season with the McLaren-Mercedes team.

"He's bound by contract right now until the end of the Formula One season," Ganassi said. "We have some opportunities to do some things after that."