Juan Pablo Montoya’s victory on the 2000 Indianapolis 500 stays one of the crucial legendary debuts within the historical past of the Brickyard. Nonetheless, the Colombian not too long ago revealed that he by no means truly needed to enter the race.
Talking on the BBC Chequered Flag Podcast alongside 1996 Components 1 champion Damon Hill, the two-time Indy 500 winner mirrored on the circumstances that led him to change into a rookie winner of the enduring occasion.
“I’m impressed by the Indy 500,” Hill stated. “That’s very cool.”
Montoya responded: “Yeah, Indy, truthfully, the primary one was actually humorous, as a result of I actually didn’t need to do it. I used to be compelled to do it.”
On the time, Montoya was extra targeted on his CART championship marketing campaign.
Requested if it was out of concern, the seven-time F1 grand prix winner added: “No. Keep in mind, at the moment, the championships have been cut up, so I used to be defending the CART championship, and the automobile was breaking down each week, after which they stated, ‘Oh, we’re going to run this’. And I used to be like, ‘Why are we taking focus with that [Indy 500], to run that?’ And so it was type of bizarre.
Juan Pable Montoya
Photograph by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Pictures
“I used to be alleged to do the rookie check. You’ve obtained to do 190 miles an hour, then 195, then 200, we simply got here from Japan, they usually stated, ‘OK, simply exit, do just a few warm-up laps earlier than that.’
“And so I went out, and by lap two, I used to be vast open. I used to be doing 220 and I used to be second quickest of the day. It was like, ‘Oh OK, you’re OK.'”
Montoya would go on to steer 167 of the 200 laps complete on the 2000 Indy 500, changing into the primary rookie driver to win since Damon’s father, Graham Hill, in 1966. He later claimed his second victory of the occasion in 2015.
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