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01-30-07, 07:21 AM
Daytona winner Montoya rules out F1 return
F1 refugee Juan Pablo Montoya recaptured the winning feeling on Sunday by racing to victory in the Daytona 24-hour race in Florida (US).
The former Williams and McLaren driver, partnered in the winning Chip Ganassi-run Lexus Prototype by Scott Pruett and Salvador Duran, starts his full time NASCAR foray in a few weeks.
But with his Daytona gong, 31-year-old Montoya joins Mario Andretti as the only other driver in the history of motor sport to have won the sports car race, formula one events, the Indianapolis 500 and America's premier open wheel title.
He turned down a Toro Rosso seat in F1 for 2007, and Montoya confirmed recently that he would not return to the Europe-based category even with a top team.
Montoya told The Times: "I ticked everything I wanted to do in F1. Yes, it would have been nice to win a championship, but it wasn't worth it in the end.
"If you want to run like you're behind the safety car, go ahead and do it, but I want to entertain myself."
F1 refugee Juan Pablo Montoya recaptured the winning feeling on Sunday by racing to victory in the Daytona 24-hour race in Florida (US).
The former Williams and McLaren driver, partnered in the winning Chip Ganassi-run Lexus Prototype by Scott Pruett and Salvador Duran, starts his full time NASCAR foray in a few weeks.
But with his Daytona gong, 31-year-old Montoya joins Mario Andretti as the only other driver in the history of motor sport to have won the sports car race, formula one events, the Indianapolis 500 and America's premier open wheel title.
He turned down a Toro Rosso seat in F1 for 2007, and Montoya confirmed recently that he would not return to the Europe-based category even with a top team.
Montoya told The Times: "I ticked everything I wanted to do in F1. Yes, it would have been nice to win a championship, but it wasn't worth it in the end.
"If you want to run like you're behind the safety car, go ahead and do it, but I want to entertain myself."