Rick Ware Racing announced Wednesday (May 3) that Juan Pablo Montoya has joined the team and will drive the No. 51 Biohaven ORECA 07-Gibson in the sprint races for the rest of the 2023 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship alongside Eric Lux. Montoya will debut with RWR in the MOTUL Course de Monterey at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca on May 14.
“I have been very fortunate to race in multiple categories with some of the best teams in history,” Montoya stated in a press release. “During those years, I have had a lot of success in each series constantly fighting for the championship. I love racing the LMP2 car and feel my experience can be a great asset to the team. I can see us winning races together.”
For team owner Rick Ware, getting someone with the resume of Montoya is quite the coup. He hopes having Montoya will significantly improve the team.
“This is a big opportunity for RWR and our IMSA team,” Ware stated. “Juan Pablo Montoya brings a wealth of championship and race-winning experience to our LMP2 program. We are looking forward to seeing what we can do together for the three races Juan Pablo is in the car this year and build on that for the future.”
In addition to Laguna Seca, Montoya is currently scheduled to race in the sprint races at Road America and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. These are the only sprint races that the LMP2 class is scheduled to participate in.
This is actually a change to the full-season lineup. Back in January, RWR (via DailySportsCar.com) announced that Pietro Fittipaldi would be Lux’s full-time teammate. Fittipaldi is still with the team, but has cut down his commitment to just the Michelin Endurance Cup races. Fittipaldi and Lux will team up with INDYCAR regular Devlin DeFrancesco for the two remaining endurance events on the schedule.
The IMSA schedule will not conflict with Montoya’s existing role with DragonSpeed in the European Le Mans Series. There, Montoya races in the LMP2 Pro-Am class alongside Henrik Hedman and his son Sebastian.
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