Algunas impresiones de Montoya, sobre su test en un ARCA:
Gosselin Goes at Talladega; Kimmel, Montoya, Wallace Comment
TALLADEGA AL (9-26-06) - Seven-time ARCA RE/MAX Series champion Frank Kimmel, Formula 1 veteran and Indy 500 winner Juan Pablo Montoya and former RE/MAX Series winners Steve Wallace and Mario Gosselin were among the 37 drivers testing Monday at Talladega Superspeedway in preparation for the October 6th Food World 250. Gosselin, in the #12 Mighty Ezy Cleaner & Degreaser Chevy Monte Carlo, was unofficially quickest overall.
Several drivers spoke about the test and the newly-paved 2.66-mile legendary superspeedway.......
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:
ON HIS FIRST IMPRESSION OF DRIVING A STOCK CAR AT TALLADEGA:
“It was like, Oh my God! I came out of the pits, I went into three and four, started listing and said, “ah, let’s just try it’ and I just went full throttle and went through it and went into one pretty fast. They told me it flat easy, so to try it. I just went for it. It went through it and it felt pretty quick, to be honest. The car really moves around a lot more from what I am used to, but after a while you just get the hang of it. It is a lot of fun, and a lot of technique. I think experience will help a lot in the car knowing when to run high and when to run low. I am getting there, but it is going to take a little bit of time.”
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:
ON WHAT IT WAS LIKE TO GET IN A STOCK CAR TODAY:
“I drove an old Trans Am car back in Colombia, but (that was) 12 years ago. That was kind of the memory. I drove Jeff’s (Gordon) car in ’03, and I felt that I cut out of the pits pretty good and it wasn’t a problem or anything. It’s the speed and the banking. The highest banked (track) I had driven is Michigan, and Michigan compared with this is flat. This thing, it is pretty high and the car has been amazingly responsive to changes, and I am very pleased with that. I didn’t know how responsive the car was going to be if you played with it. We have done a couple of changes and you can really feel the changes and it is nice. It is nice to start understanding what changes the car will have and how the car reacts, because that is going to really play into our hands later on. When we come down to making decisions in a race, we can know what to do with the car, at least to understand what we are doing, it’s really important.”
ON HOW HE THINKS HIS OPEN-WHEEL CAR CONTROL SKILLS MAY TRANSFER TO STOCK CARS:
“Here, the cars are pretty stable. In a way I think it is going to help because these cars move a lot more from anything I have driven, so you can be more on top of the car, in a way. This is, I think a very different oval from anything else we would run normally. Here you are just flat out the whole time and at the end of the race, it is pretty straightforward. For me, it is pretty exciting still here because I need to learn to run high to run low. You need to run one lap high to build up the speed - - all those things are new for me. In Champ cars before when I raced with Chip, we never had to do that.”
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:
ON WHEN HE FEELS HE’LL BE PREPARED TO MAKE HIS FIRST STOCK CAR START:
“It is the same thing. Once I get comfortable and really understand the car and feel comfortable. Here it is good, in a way I am pretty happy you can’t run with people, because I am going to get a lot more comfortable. You are not looking after anybody. You don’t have to think about anybody, and you can run high by yourself, run low by yourself and run in the middle by yourself and learn to keep the car in different race lines. When we feel comfortable, we’ll make that call. It is not only myself, but Donnie as well and Chip. We all together have got to make a decision when it has got to happen, but as Chip said, it is one step at a time.”
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:
ON WHAT POINT IN HIS CAREER HE BEGAN TO SERIOUSLY CONSIDER STOCK CAR RACING:
“Even when I left KART working with Chip back in 2000, I still had a place in Miami, and my parents still live in Miami. You always hear about everything that happens here in stock cars and NASCAR and everything. I think if he would have asked me six years ago if I would drive for him in NASCAR I would have said no. I don’t think mentally I was prepared for it. I still think I am a little bit aggressive, but I was very aggressive then and I wasn’t patient enough to really get in the mood driving a stock car and learning to work with it. I don’t think I had the patience for it. When I talked to him, I told him I think I am a lot better prepared now than then. It is a long term deal because it is going to take time. I think a lot of you guys are expecting me to go out and win my first race. I don’t think it is going to happen, but for me I need to go out there, run, get comfortable. Especially the first year, we need to learn the tracks, learn to understand how the car works, how through the race the car develops to be even better prepared for the year after. We’ll take it as it comes.
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:
ON THE BIGGEST DIFFERENCE DRIVING A STOCK CAR AS OPPOSED TO AN OPEN WHEEL CAR:
“At the end of the day, it is the same thing. It is a bigger car, and one has more technology and the other one doesn’t. It has a steering wheel, four tires and brakes. It is a bit heavier and it is going to have more momentum, more inertia, but that is about it. I think the approach is very important. If you think ‘Oh I am not going to be able to drive this because it is big,’ then don’t even bother. I think you need to have a very open mindset about it, know that it is going to be difficult and it is going to take time. But, if you work at it and do the right steps, it is going to be fine. It is going to take time. There are going to be races where we are going to be good and there are going to be races where we are going to be bad. It is that simple. It is a matter of building up the team.
ON HIS COMMITMENT TO STOCK CAR RACING:
“I am 100 percent committed to this and this is the only thing that I am going to be doing. This is it and this is where we need to make it work and that’s it.”
Algunos resultados No oficiales del test:
2006 ARCA RE/MAX Series
Talladega Superspeedway, Talladega AL
Unofficial Open Test Results, Food World 250
(9-25-06)
DRIVER/HOMETOWN MAKE TIME SPEED
1 Mario Gosselin/St. Marie Quebec Chevy 50.830 188.393
2 Marc Mitchell Chevy 50.980 187.838
3 Steve Wallace/Mooresville NC Dodge 50.980 187.838
4 Pete Shepherd/Brampton ON Ford 51.040 187.618
5 Juan Pablo Montoya/Colombia Dodge 51.060 187.544
6 Jason Keller Dodge 51.060 187.544
7 Cale Gale/Mobile AL Dodge 51.140 187.251
8 Phillip McGilton/Marion IL Chevy 51.170 187.141
9 Doug Reid/Hueytown AL Chevy 51.190 187.061
10 Blake Bjorklund/Isanti MN Dodge 51.240 186.885
11 Johnny Jackson Chevy 51.270 186.771
12 Pierre Bourque/Ottawa ON Dodge 51.300 186.667
13 Justin Allgaier/Springfield IL Chevy 51.410 186.267
14 Kelly Bires Ford 51.430 186.195
15 Justin Marks/Rocklin CA Dodge 51.500 185.942
16 Amanda Gogel Chevy 51.500 185.942
17 Matt Hagans/Indianapolis IN Dodge 51.610 185.545
18 Frank Kimmel/Clarksville IN Ford 51.610 185.545
19 Chase Miller/Canton GA Dodge 51.620 185.509
20 Brett Rowe/Barboursville WV Chevy 51.620 185.509
21 Michael Faulk Dodge 51.630 185.374
22 Michael McDowell/Phoenix AZ Dodge 51.740 185.079
23 Bryan Silas/Mobile AL Chevy 51.750 185.043
24 Skip Cummins Chevy 51.910 184.473
25 TJ Bell/Sparks NV Dodge 51.920 184.438
26 Justin South/Hueytown AL Chevy 52.050 183.977
27 Ricky Sanders/Stockbridge GA Chevy 52.130 183.604
28 Craig Butts/Grove Hill AL Dodge 52.190 183.483
29 Justin Diercks/Davenport IA Chevy 52.330 182.993
30 Tony Ave/Indianapolis IN Chevy 52.360 182.888
31 Gabi DeCarlos Ford 52.500 182.122
32 Mike Harmon/Birmingport AL Chevy 52.580 182.122
33 Jeremy Clements/Spartanburg SC Chevy 52.620 181.984
34 Dicky Williamson/Savannah GA Ford 53.040 180.543
35 Butch Jarvis/Blountville TN Chevy 53.290 179.696
36 Brian Kaltreider/Reading PA Chevy 53.720 178.258
37 Ashley Parlett Dodge 56.880 168.354
) insistía en que ese McLaren era el que estaba rodando hace unos días en Silverstone y que Pedro no podría hacer el tonto porque llevaba una caja de cambios nueva... y por eso lo traen a hacer una exhibición ¿no? 
), Jean Alesi. Ya sabéis que me encanta, así la objetividad la dejo aparcada momentáneamente. El francés sigue como siempre, incombustible. Primero, ha salvado como ha podido el accidente múltiple en La Caixa, luego ha demostrado que sigue teniendo esa combatividad tan característica en el. En el cuerpo a cuerpo no se ha dejado doblegar por La Rosa, ha hecho algunos adelantamientos meritorios y sólo un bicampeón como Häkkinen le ha adelantado con facilidad. Al final, supongo que problemas mecánicos han frenado su ritmo y le han pasado todos menos Sussie Stoddart. Un placer volver a verte 
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