Juan Pablo Montoya

Montoya was born on the morning of 20 September 1975, in a Bogotá hospital, to middle-class parents Pablo (an architect who enjoyed motor racing and amateur go-karting) and his wife Libia Roldán de Montoya (). He is the family's eldest child, with two younger brothers and a sister. Montoya's grandfather Santiago worked in real estate, while his uncle Diego raced sports cars. The family lived in the San José de Bavaria neighbourhood in Bogotá's northern outskirts. Montoya attended the private schools Colegio Gimnasio Bilingue Campestre and later the Colegio San Tarsicio after his test scores were too low and he was a Boy Scout. He spent four days a week on his education and three days racing by the end of his schooling. ==Junior racing career==

Aged five, Montoya began kart racing when his father brought him a go-kart, taught him to drive and trained at the Kartódromo Cajicá outside of Bogotá. His father mentored him, and was inspired by drivers Roberto Guerrero and Ayrton Senna. Montoya won four national championships and finished second three times. Montoya began car racing in 1992, and travelled to the United States that September to attend a three-day Skip Barber Racing School at Sonoma Raceway under the tutelage of lead instructor Vic Elford. Montoya then returned to Colombia to drive a Van Diemen car in the 1600cc Copa Fórmula Renault after series officials rejected him for being inexperienced and for being an aggressive driver until the withdrawal of one driver enabled his entry. He took four wins and five pole positions for second in the eight-race championship. Montoya entered the American-based Barber Saab Pro Series in 1994 featuring normally aspirated cars, winning two races, two poles and eleven top-ten finishes for third overall with 114 points. He also raced for the Osaka team in Mexico, finishing third overall in the local sports car prototype division and earning three wins and four pole positions in the Nissan-powered single seater Formula N support category. He won three of the season's fourteen races (all from pole position) and five podium finishes for third in the Drivers' Championship with 125 points. In October 1995, he finished ninth in the International Formula 3 Cup at Donington Park, and won the 6 Hours of Bogotá endurance race with co-drivers Jorge Cortés and Diego Guzmán in Spice's No. 45 Group C car. Montoya retired from the Macau Grand Prix but won his second 6 Hours of Bogotá with Jorge Arango and Cortés. For 1997, Montoya wanted to move to the International F3000 Championship—Formula One's (F1) feeder series— and accepted an offer from team owner Helmut Marko to drive for his RSM Marko squad in F3000 after budgetary issues stopped Super Nova Racing owner David Sears from signing him. Marko advised Montoya to eat healthily and exercise more in order to boost his performance and handle heavier cars better, but he was hesitant and occasionally fell behind owing to a lack of mental fortitude. He won three races driving the Lola T96/50-Zytek car at the Pau Grand Prix, the A1-Ring and the Circuito de Jerez and took two pole positions. Outside of F3000, Montoya won the 6 Hours of Bogotá for the third time, alongside Cortés and Guzmán. In November 1997, Williams Grand Prix Engineering team owner Frank Williams invited Montoya to a shootout between Soheil Ayari, Nicolas Minassian and Max Wilson at the Circuit de Catalunya to decide who would be its F1 test driver. He got the role and covered in 1998 as well as studying telemetry for drivers Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Jacques Villeneuve. Montoya joined Super Nova Racing for the 1998 International F3000 Championship after a character clash with Marko and declined Marko's offer to become his manager, who paid Sears for Montoya to race at Super Nova. During a season-long rivalry with West Competition Team driver Nick Heidfeld, he won four races (at Catalunya, Silverstone, Pau and the Autodromo di Pergusa), took nine podium finishes and seven pole positions. Montoya won the championship by finishing third in the season finale at the Nürburgring and ended the 12-race season with 65 points. ==CART and first Indianapolis 500 win==

Montoya made his Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) debut in 1999 for Chip Ganassi Racing (CGR) on a three-year contract after Williams signed double CART champion Alex Zanardi from CGR to drive for them instead of Montoya because Williams wanted a more experienced driver and thought Montoya needed more development. Montoya drove the No. 4 Reynard 99I-Honda car, Montoya won his first CART race, the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, in the season's third round. He then won the Bosch Spark Plug Grand Prix at Nazareth Speedway from pole position, leading a race-high 210 laps to take the championship lead from Greg Moore, and became the first rookie to win three successive races after leading 93 laps in the Rio 200. Montoya later took two pole positions and a top-three finish at Portland International Raceway due to a penalty and fuel strategy. Montoya then won the Grand Prix of Cleveland at Burke Lakefront Airport from pole position, but reliability issues and accidents over the next four races lost him the championship lead to Dario Franchitti. He won the next three races at Mid-Ohio, Chicago and Vancouver to retake the championship lead, but two more accidents and Franchitti's better performance over the next three events put him nine points behind going into the season-ending Marlboro 500 at California Speedway. He finished fourth and Franchitti tenth, finishing the season with the same number of points as Franchitti (212) but winning the championship, with seven victories to Franchitti's three. Montoya became CART's youngest champion, the second rookie champion after Nigel Mansell and was Rookie of the Year. Montoya switched to an Lola B2K/00-Toyota car for the 2000 season, which was marred by unreliability. Montoya struggled in the first four races, but improved to claim four consecutive pole positions and Toyota's first CART victory in the rain-delayed Miller Lite 225 at the Milwaukee Mile after leading a race-high 179 laps from pole position. He won the Michigan 500 at Michigan International Speedway with a last-lap overtake on Michael Andretti and held him off by 0.040 seconds. Montoya's performance was hampered by mechanical issues in the following five races, despite taking pole position in Chicago. He took his third (and final) victory of the season from pole position in the Motorola 300 at Gateway International Raceway. Montoya finished second in Houston and qualified first at Surfers Paradise in the final three events for ninth overall with 126 points. Montoya drove CGR's No. 9 G-Force GF05-Oldsmobile Aurora in the Indianapolis 500 (part of the Indy Racing League) in May. Starting second, Montoya led 167 of the race's 200 laps to become the first rookie winner since Graham Hill in 1966. ==Formula One==

2001–2004 (Williams) Montoya left CGR with Ganassi's approval and debuted in Formula 1 with Williams in its FW23-BMW car in the 2001 season after signing a two-year contract in mid-2000 to replace Jenson Button. He began losing weight to appease senior Williams officials and to become more race ready, and became acquainted with tracks he had not raced on by playing simulation video games. Montoya's car was powerful and capable of challenging for victories, but it was unreliable, and he was frequently involved in accidents; this became less common after the , when he was involved in a physical altercation with Villeneuve, when Frank Williams spoke to Montoya, and his performances improved. His Michelin tyres exposed him to understeer due to severe tyre sensitivity, which was rectified. Montoya began lapping faster than teammate Ralf Schumacher, with whom he had a cool relationship and the car was built to his liking, as he began improving on car setup and qualifying. Montoya led the (the season's third round) after passing Ferrari's Michael Schumacher until a rear-end collision with Arrows' Jos Verstappen (whom he had just lapped) forced him to retire. Montoya earned his first podium result and points by placing second in the two races later. He repeated the feat four rounds later at the and added points two races later by finishing fourth in the . Montoya took his maiden pole position at the and led until a refuelling issue at a pit stop forced him to retire with an engine failure. His second career pole position was at the , although he stalled at the start due to more engine trouble. Montoya began the from pole position and led 29 of its 53 laps in his maiden victory and the first for a Colombian in F1. He finished second in the season-ending for sixth in the World Drivers' Championship (WDC) with 31 points. Montoya remained at Williams for the 2002 season. His FW25-BMW car was enhanced during the 2003 championship, with the consequent mechanical and aerodynamic changes making it F1's fastest car, particularly when racing in hotter conditions due to benefitting from the Michelin tyres that the team used. He led the season-opening until a late-race spin cost him the win to McLaren's David Coulthard and dropped him to second. Montoya added seven more points in the following five races, finishing seventh in San Marino and fourth in Spain. Engineer Frank Dernie's mid-season improvements made the FW25 car competitive, and Montoya won the . Montoya would put together a title challenge by finishing on the podium in the next seven races, a run that included winning his second and final race of 2003, the , by over a minute from pole position, a result which moved him into second position in the WDC. His performance declined after the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile required Michelin to redesign their tyres after it announced changes to the methodology of measuring tyre width, and he was mathematically eliminated from title contention at the season's penultimate round when a drive-through penalty for a third lap collision with Ferrari's Rubens Barrichello at the left him to finish down in sixth place. Montoya would end his strongest season in F1 third in the WDC with 82 points, eleven points short of the title. Montoya's FW26-BMW 2004 car was slow and did not have enough downforce to give him confidence driving into corners as Williams switched from a single-keel to a twin-keel chassis design as well as a front wing design dubbed the "Walrus nose" that was dropped for a more conventional design before the . He gained points in all but two of the first seven rounds, finishing second in Malaysia and third in San Marino. Montoya was disqualified from fifth in the because his Williams car had oversized brake ducts and was disqualified from the following for changing cars on the starting grid too late in the time available. After that, he scored points in eight of the final nine races, including winning the season-ending . Montoya took fifth in the WDC with 58 points. 2005–2006 (McLaren) team in the 2005 British Grand Prix Montoya's relationship with Williams worsened when he verbally abused their engineers over the radio, believing that pit stop tactics during the 2003 French Grand Prix allowed his teammate Ralf Schumacher to win. Montoya signed a contract with McLaren to replace Coulthard for the 2005 season in August 2003; Frank Williams rejected McLaren team principal Ron Dennis' offer to release Montoya immediately because he did not want to do it a year before his existing contract with Williams expired. He was also upset that Williams might keep Ralf Schumacher, which he believed would stop him from becoming World Champion. Montoya spent time during the off-season losing weight and raising his fitness levels by switching to a new training regimen and a low-carbohydrate diet to improve his performance after encouragement from Dennis. Kimi Räikkönen was his teammate and had a cordial personal relationship with him. Montoya's MP4-20 car struggled to quickly generate heat into its tyres, limiting its effectiveness in qualifying early in the season. Subsequent car modifications, such as suspension tweaks, allowed him to be gentle on the tyres and extract extra speed. After scoring points in the first two races, he missed the Bahrain and San Marino Grands Prix due to a hairline fracture in his left scapula, and was replaced by Pedro de la Rosa and Alexander Wurz, respectively. Montoya was not fully recovered when he returned, and scored points in three of the next six races before being disqualified from the for passing a red light at the end of the pit lane. He did, however, win the and took podium finishes in both the German and . Montoya won the from pole position, then scored a second consecutive pole in Belgium before winning his third (and final) race of 2005 in Brazil. He could not help McLaren win the World Constructors' Championship as he retired on the first lap of the after hitting the barrier to avoid an accident and struck a raised drain cover at the while running fourth. Montoya was fourth in the WDC with 60 points. Montoya remained at McLaren for the 2006 season, but it did not exercise their option to keep him for the 2007 championship in December 2005 since he had a strained relationship with both Dennis and Martin Whitmarsh. He struggled to drive the MP4-21 car because of its understeer, tyre temperature warming problems, and power loss caused by the switch from V10 to V8 engine regulations. Montoya was outpaced by Räikkönen, and scored points in five of the first nine races, including a third-place in San Marino and a second-place in Monaco. He was involved in an eight-car accident on the first lap of the , colliding with the rear of Räikkönen's car and then going into Button's Honda. Montoya left F1 following the race and was replaced by Pedro de la Rosa for the rest of the season. He was eighth in the WDC with 26 points. ==NASCAR==

2006–2009 Montoya did not want to race for McLaren and preferred American-based racing; He discussed moving to NASCAR with CGR with Felix Sabates in June 2006. Montoya spoke with his father, who persuaded him to switch series, He informed Dennis of the news and was promptly sidelined from McLaren since he made the statement without informing the team first. Montoya was released from his McLaren contract four weeks early thanks to DaimlerChrysler's intervention and a rumoured $5 million compensation from Ganassi. He rejected an offer to return to F1 with Toro Rosso after telling team principal Franz Tost that he was focused on NASCAR. Montoya began an intensive training regimen to prepare for the following season, including Mark Martin on how to give drivers space. in his Nextel Cup Series debut at the season-ending 2006 Ford 400. Montoya made his stock car racing debut in the Food World 250 (part of the ARCA Re/Max Series developmental championship) at Talladega Superspeedway as preparation for his first full-time NASCAR season, starting second and finishing third. He made his NASCAR debut in the Sam's Town 250 of the Busch Series at Memphis Motorsports Park, driving CGR's No. 42 Dodge, and competed in the final three 2006 Busch Series races. Montoya had his best Busch Series start and finish of 2006 at Memphis, starting ninth and finishing eleventh. Montoya started 29th at Homestead, but his car caught fire after Ryan Newman hit the back of his vehicle, sending him into the barrier. and developed a rapport with his crew chief Donnie Wingo. Montoya frustrated approaching drivers by blocking them when he was one lap down. He was outperformed by both the Hendrick Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing teams resource-wise and had difficulty handling the Dodge Avenger model of the Car of Tomorrow that was unbalanced when amongst packs of cars. Wingo sent Montoya onto a track early in the season in a car with understeer before modifying its setup to boost speed by allowing the rear end to swing out through corners. , where he took his second career top-ten finish Montoya qualified 36th for the season-opening Daytona 500, finishing nineteenth following handling issues and avoiding a multi-car accident on its final lap. Following three sub-par races, Montoya earned his first career top-five finish in the Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway that March. He finished seventh in the Samsung 500 at Texas Motor Speedway after colliding with Tony Stewart. Montoya started 32nd in the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway and led the final seven laps after passing Jamie McMurray for his first career Cup Series victory, becoming the series' first foreign-born winner since Earl Ross in 1974. He started and finished second in the Brickyard 400 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway four races later. The rest of the season yielded two top-tens at Dover International Speedway and Martinsville Speedway for 20th in the final championship standings with 3,487 points. Montoya drove the No. 42 CGR Dodge in 17 Busch Series races in 2007 to gain experience on tracks where he also competed in the Cup Series. He led a race-high 43 laps in the Telcel-Motorola Mexico 200 at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez before bumping his CGR teammate Scott Pruett with eight laps remaining for his first NASCAR victory and become the first foreign-born NASCAR winner since Ron Fellows in 2001. Montoya finished two more races in the top ten, at Atlanta and Talladega, and his best start of the season was second at Watkins Glen International, where he finished 33rd following a crash. before the 2008 Pep Boys Auto 500 Montoya returned to drive CGR's No. 42 car for the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Montoya was 32nd in the Daytona 500 despite running as high as second late in the race. CGR's decline in performance meant he had no top ten finishes or qualified within the top ten, leading to criticism from Ganassi. Jimmy Elledge became Montoya's crew chief after Wingo was moved to teammate Reed Sorenson's squad before being replaced by Brian Pattie. They promised to work together regularly to make Montoya more competitive. Although Montoya continued to struggle performance-wise attributed in part to the closure of teammate Franchitti's squad due to sponsorship issues, he finished in the top-ten at both road course races (sixth and fourth in the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Infineon and the Centurion Boats at the Glen at Watkins Glen, respectively). He took pole position for the Camping World RV 400 at Kansas Speedway, but his lap was disallowed due to excessive gas pressure in his rear shock absorbers. Montoya was 25th in the final championship standings, with 3,329 points. and a contract from Tost to return to F1 with Toro Rosso since his family felt comfortable in the United States. During the season, Montoya won no races but was more competitive and consistent with ten top-ten finishes and improved his qualifying performances in the first 26 races, This was due to his car's increased power, his developing experience and patience, and Pattie's calm demeanour. Montoya had been enough acquainted with the Car of Tomorrow by mid-2009, when he adjusted his driving style to slow down in order to be faster. In the Aaron's 499 at Talladega, he qualified on pole for the first time in his Cup Series career before finishing second in the Sunoco Red Cross Pennsylvania 500 at Pocono Raceway. He was tenth in points after the second race at Richmond Raceway and qualified for the Chase for the Sprint Cup. A pole position in the Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway along with six top-ten finishes put him as high as third place in the standings but was eliminated from title contention after a series of accidents. He was eighth overall with 6,252 points. He qualified better and increased his average finishing position over the first 21 races of the season, with eight top-ten finishes, two pole positions, Montoya qualified on pole for both the Lenox Industrial Tools 301 in New Hampshire and the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis, but crashed in both races. Montoya started third in the Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at the Glen at Watkins Glen and led 74 of the race's ninety laps to take his second (and final) Cup Series victory. The rest of the season saw him claim five more top-ten finishes and pole position for the AMP Energy Juice 500 at Talladega. He was 17th in the final standings with 4,118 points. but his performance suffered as a result of NASCAR mandating a nose change. Montoya finished third in the Kobalt Tools 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway two races later, his best finish of the season. Montoya qualified on pole position for the Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway and in the Crown Royal Presents the Matthew and Daniel Hansen 400 at Richmond in his first short oval track pole. Following Montoya's inconsistency in the first half of the season, which saw him drop down the points standings throughout the year, Ganassi replaced Pattie as the driver's crew chief by Jim Pohlman without Montoya's substantial participation before the Brickyard 400 that July. He ended the 36-race season 21st overall with 932 points after eight top-ten finishes and no race wins. He remained with EGR for the 2012 season and was assigned Chris Heroy as his new crew chief after Ganassi restructured his team. Montoya's trailing arm snapped during the season-opening Daytona 500, causing him to crash sideways into the rear of a jet dryer transporting jet fuel and catching fire. During the season, he only had two top-ten finishes, which were eighth-place finishes at Bristol Motor Speedway and Michigan. He was 22nd in the drivers' standings with a total of 810 points. He was slowed by mechanical problems and was involved in crashes in five of the first seven races of the season. Montoya started sixth and finished fourth in the Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond after leading 67 laps due to a late race caution. Four races later, he took his best result of the season with a second-place finish in the FedEx 400 at Dover after leading 19 laps and being overtaken by Stewart with three laps to go. Montoya was set to finish second in the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma but he ran out of fuel on the final lap and finished 34th. The rest of the season saw him secure five more top-ten finishes, with a best performance of third at Bristol. Montoya finished his final full-time Sprint Cup Series season 21st in the points standings, with 891. Montoya finished outside of the top-ten positions in both races. Montoya returned to NASCAR after a ten-year absence to compete on a one-off basis at the 2024 Go Bowling at The Glen driving 23XI Racing's No. 50 Toyota Camry XSE after accepting an offer from team president Steve Lauletta. He qualified 34th for the race and finished in 32nd. ==IndyCar Series==

2014–2016 Montoya was told in August 2013 that EGR would not renew his contract for the 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, and talked to Andretti Autosport about driving for them in the IndyCar Series as well as Furniture Row Racing in lieu of Kurt Busch in NASCAR, but he declined both offers. Montoya joined Penske in the 2014 IndyCar Series after meeting president Tim Cindric at Michigan that year. He shed since the previous summer, modified his workout programme to increase his fitness in order to cope with the demands of open-wheel car racing, which he had to reacquaint himself with, and Team Penske acquired sponsorship financing to run his car in eight of the planned races. in the 2014 Indianapolis 500 Montoya drove the No. 2 Dallara DW12-Chevrolet car. Montoya had five top-ten finishes in the season's first ten races, including a second-place in the first race at the Grand Prix of Houston. He qualified on pole for the Pocono IndyCar 500 and overtook Tony Kanaan with four laps remaining to win the fastest 500-mile race in IndyCar history with an average speed of and his first IndyCar victory in nearly fourteen years. Montoya finished the season with three more top-fives, including a second-place at Milwaukee, and was fourth overall with 586 points. improving his performance in qualifying from the previous season. Montoya started fourth and led the final 27 laps of the season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, holding off Penske teammate Will Power to win the race and take the points lead. He qualified on pole for the Indy Grand Prix of Louisiana at NOLA Motorsports Park and led 31 laps before pit stops and two caution periods dropped him to fifth place. Montoya then finished third in the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach and the Grand Prix of Indianapolis. Following that, he continuously finished in the top ten in the next six rounds as he drove conservatively until an accident at Iowa caused by suspension failure dropped him to 24th, although he retained the points lead due to other drivers' issues. Montoya's third-place finish at Pocono made him one of six drivers eligible for the championship at the season-ending GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma. He finished sixth following a collision with Power and ended the season with the same number of points as Dixon (556) but lost the championship on tiebreak to Dixon, who had won three races to Montoya's two. For the 2016 IndyCar Series, Montoya continued to race for Penske. however he occasionally raced quicker during a race after a poor qualifying. Montoya started third and led 56 laps in the following Desert Diamond West Valley Phoenix Grand Prix in Phoenix when a flat tyre forced an early pit stop and left him to ninth place, moving Pagenaud into the championship lead. He took three more top-tens before an early racing collision in the Indianapolis 500 left him in 33rd, putting him in a points deficit. Montoya end the season with five top-tens, and he placed third at Sonoma for eighth in the drivers' standings with 433 points. 2017–2022 Cindric informed Montoya in July 2016 that his future at Penske did not necessarily imply that he would race for them full-time in IndyCar. Montoya was given a spot in Penske's fifth entry for the 2017 Indianapolis 500, but he discussed returning to CGR as well as joining Ed Carpenter Racing, A. J. Foyt Racing, or Andretti Autosport for the entire season. He did not reach an agreement with any other teams and remained at Penske for the Indianapolis 500 because he felt the team would give him the best chance of winning. Montoya entered both the IndyCar Grand Prix and the Indianapolis 500 in the 2017 IndyCar Series. He finished tenth in the first round and sixth in the Indianapolis 500 despite running out of fuel before a pit stop. IndyCar chose Montoya to be the test driver of Chevrolet's specification of the Dallara universal aerodynamic kit at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Iowa Speedway, and a street circuit simulation at Sebring International Raceway before the kit's debut in the 2018 season. He talked about driving for Schmidt Peterson Motorsports in the 2018 Indianapolis 500, but team owner Sam Schmidt was told that team owner Roger Penske had vetoed such an agreement. Montoya would miss the race, focusing solely on his sports car career. Montoya talked to McLaren CEO Zak Brown about racing for his team in the 2019 Indianapolis 500, but could not do so as he was under contract to Penske. Montoya drove Arrow McLaren SP's No. 86 Dallara-Chevrolet third car in the 2021 IndyCar Series for the GMR Grand Prix and the Indianapolis 500. He qualified outside the top-twenty in both races and finished 21st and ninth, respectively. He finished 24th in the weather-affected GMR Grand Prix following an accident, and eleventh in the Indianapolis 500 after starting 30th. ==Sports car racing==

for the second time in 2008 Montoya made his professional endurance debut in the 2007 24 Hours of Daytona (part of the Rolex Sports Car Series), winning after 668 laps in the No. 1 Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates (CGRFS) Riley MkXI-Lexus Daytona Prototype (DP) car he shared with Salvador Durán and Pruett. The following year, he won the 2008 24 Hours of Daytona for the second successive year, this time with Franchitti, Pruett and Memo Rojas after 695 laps. Montoya returned to CGRFS for the 2009 24 Hours of Daytona, partnering with Pruett and Rojas in a Riley MkXX-Lexus DP car and finishing second overall after losing the win to Brumos Racing by a record-close 0.167 seconds. He partook in the 24 Hours of Daytona in the No. 2 Riley MkXX-BMW with Dixon, Franchitti and McMurray from 2010 to 2012. They were 37th in 2010 after mechanical failure, but came second and fourth in 2011 and 2012, respectively. Montoya, Dixon, and McMurray finished fourth in the Rolex Sports Car Series' three-hour Brickyard Grand Prix in Indianapolis in July 2012. He, Charlie Kimball, Pruett and Rojas won the 2013 24 Hours of Daytona in CGRFS' No. 01 Riley MkXXVI-BMW DP car, completing 709 laps. Montoya was invited by Porsche to participate in the post-season FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) rookie test in a 919 Hybrid at the Bahrain International Circuit in November 2015. He guest tested a Risi Competizione-entered Ferrari 488 GTE in a test session at Sebring the month before the 2017 12 Hours of Sebring (part of the IMSA SportsCar Championship). To prepare for the 2018 IMSA SportsCar Championship in an Acura ARX-05 car in the Daytona Prototype International (DPi) category, Montoya drove the final round of the 2017 season, the Petit Le Mans, in the No. 6 Oreca 07-Gibson Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) car alongside Hélio Castroneves and Pagenaud. Their car started on pole position and finished third overall after Castroneves collided with Matteo Cressoni's Ferrari. -fielded Ligier JS P217-Gibson car Montoya shared with Hugo de Sadeleer and Will Owen at the 2018 24 Hours of Le Mans. Montoya officially joined Penske's IMSA programme in August 2017, having previously expressed interest in IMSA. Montoya shared the No. 6 car by Dane Cameron for the season and Pagenaud for three endurance races. Montoya took pole position for the BUBBA Burger Sports Car Grand Prix and led 23 laps before finishing fifth. He finished in the top ten five more times before crashing in the second hour of the Petit Le Mans, leaving his car 32nd overall. Montoya was fifth in both the Prototype Drivers' Championship (251 points) and the North American Endurance Cup (NAEC). In June, he made his 24 Hours of Le Mans début in United Autosports' No. 32 Ligier JS P217-Gibson car with Hugo de Sadeleer and Will Owen. The car finished third in LMP2 and seventh overall. Montoya returned to Penske for the 2019 season in the new DPi category, accompanied by Cameron for the year and Pagenaud for three endurance events. Montoya finished no worse than ninth in the first three races of the season before his first IMSA victory in the Acura Sports Car Challenge at Mid-Ohio after leading 88 laps from third. He took his second successive win in the Chevrolet Sports Car Classic in Detroit, starting from pole position. Montoya then took three straight podium finishes before winning the Monterey Grand Prix at Laguna Seca after leading a race-high 75 laps. Finishing fourth at the season-ending Petit Le Mans earned him and Cameron the DPi Drivers' Championship with 302 points, and they were sixth in the NAEC. For the 2020 championship, Montoya returned to Penske's programme and was paired with Cameron for that year, with Pagenaud serving as the endurance driver. He started the season fourth at the 24 Hours of Daytona and finished no worse than ninth in the final eight rounds and qualifying on pole three times. He took sixth in the DPi Drivers' Championship with 247 points and was third in the NAEC. The car was retired after 192 laps due to a misfire. Montoya joined Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian in the 2021 IMSA SportsCar Championship as an endurance driver of its No. 60 Acura ARX-05 car alongside A. J. Allmendinger, Cameron, Castroneves, and Olivier Pla and was part of DragonSpeed USA's No. 21 WEC team with Ben Hanley and Henrik Hedman. He finished in the top ten of all three IMSA races he entered. He was invited to compete in the European Le Mans Series' (ELMS) 4 Hours of Monza for DragonSpeed with Hanley and Hedman in July, finishing seventeenth overall. Montoya shared the No. 81 DragonSpeed – 10Star Oreca LMP2 car for six points-scoring races in the 2022 IMSA SportsCar Championship with Hedman and his son Sebastián. He finished no lower than eighth in class in those six events and won his category in the Lexus Grand Prix at Mid-Ohio. Montoya finished fourth in the LMP2 Drivers' Championship with 1878 points and seventh in the NAEC. He was scheduled to enter three races of the 2023 IMSA SportsCar Championship in Rick Ware Racing's No. 51 Oreca car alongside Eric Lux. Montoya returned to compete with DragonSpeed in the entire ELMS season in 2023 alongside Hedman and Sebastián, ending the season seventh in the LMP2 Pro-Am points standings with 44 scored and a best class finish of fifth twice. == Race of Champions ==

for the first time in 2017 Montoya has twice competed in the Race of Champions. He had previously declined invites to the event, but agreed to compete in the 2017 Race of Champions at Marlins Park in Miami on his wife's suggestion, and won the Race of Champions by defeating Tom Kristensen 2–0 in the final. Team Colombia's Montoya and Gabby Chaves were eliminated in the Nations Cup semi-finals by Team Germany's Sebastian Vettel. He was eliminated by Kristensen in the Race of Champions quarterfinals, and he and Castroneves finished second against Team Germany's Timo Bernhard and René Rast in the Nations Cup at the King Fahd International Stadium in Riyadh in 2018. ==Driving style==

Montoya has had an aggressive driving style since childhood, Driver Derek Daly wrote that Montoya lacked technical knowledge of a racing car because he was not taught by a championship or a racing squad and needed two or three engineers to compensate for his inability to provide accurate technical feedback, which became more apparent as his F1 career progressed. He observed that the driver denied having such a flaw and frequently blamed other variables for his poor performance. Daly, however, stated that Montoya relied heavily on reflexes and intuition during his youth racing and CART career. Autosport's Nigel Roebuck observed in November 2004 that Montoya was emotionally driven and impervious to being pressured from behind. ==Non-racing ventures and recognition==

Montoya has been represented by the management firms CSS Stellar and William Morris Agency. He has been an ambassador for the Swiss watchmaker TAG Heuer, and the Miami Grand Prix. Montoya was made a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations (UN) in October 2001 and helped to raise funding for the World Food Programme to feed children displaced by the Colombian conflict. Upon becoming an UN Goodwill Ambassador, he and his wife established the non-profit Fundación Formula Sonrisas (English: Formula Smiles Foundation) in 2003 and focuses on reducing gender and social inequality by educating children living in the deprived areas of Colombia through sport and physical education. Montoya married law graduate Connie Freydell in Cartagena, Colombia on 26 October 2002. He builds and flies radio-controlled aircraft. Montoya made a cameo appearance as a racing driver in the 2001 film Driven. He began working for Motorsport.tv as a presenter providing insight and opinions in news programmes and be part of its creative team for long-form documentaries in May 2021. In early November 2013, the Internal Revenue Service stated that he owed US$2.7 million in additional taxes and penalties due to disallowed deductions from 2007 and 2008. Montoya stated that he had earned $800,000 more than his reported income, but filed a challenge to the audit in the United States Tax Court. Montoya received the Order of Boyacá and the Order of José Acevedo y Gómez in 1999; the Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year in 2000; the Rookie of the Year and the International Driver of the Year at the Autosport Awards in 2001 and 2003; and the Colombian Athlete of the Year in 2001; Montoya also won the Laureus World Sports Award for Breakthrough of the Year, the Ibero-American Community Trophy as the best Ibero-American athlete and the Lorenzo Bandini Trophy "in recognition of his achievements for his debut season in Formula One last year" in 2002. He was voted the top Latin American driver at the Premios Fox Sports Awards in both 2003 and 2005. Montoya was inducted into the Miami Sports Hall of Champions in 2011 and the Long Beach Motorsports Walk of Fame in 2018. The Kartódromo Juan Pablo Montoya in Tocancipá is named after him. Montoya became one of the presenters on Apple TV's coverage for the 2026 Formula One World Championship season. ==Racing career==