Juan Pablo Montoya gets new crew chief before critical Indy race

Juan Pablo Montoya gets new crew chief before critical Indy race

Juan Pablo Montoya will have a new crew chief next week for the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where he will be one of the favorites after two near-misses in the last two years.

Jim Pohlman, who has been with Earnhardt Ganassi Racing since 2006 in several roles, including as a Cup car chief, has been named interim crew chief for the No. 42 team, according to a team news release.

Pohlman replaces Brian Pattie, who became Montoya’s crew chief in May 2008. Pattie led Montoya to the Chase For The Sprint Cup in 2009 and the two appeared to have a good working relationship.

But the team finished 17th in the standings in 2010, when Montoya won at Watkins Glen two weeks after a disappointing race at Indy. Montoya dominated that race but a four-tire pit call mired him in traffic and he crashed at the end.

Montoya is 17th in the current Cup standings, 59 points out of 10th with seven races left before the Chase. He was battling for a top-10 finish at New Hampshire last week before running out of gas and finishing 30th and falling four spots in the standings.

Montoya has had only two top-10s in his last 13 races.

“We are pleased to have someone of Jim’s caliber to be able to place into this role on the No. 42 team,” team owner Chip Ganassi said in a news release. “Jim has been with us a number of years and I have confidence in his abilities to move the team forward.”

Fonte: via @scenedaily

Mudanças estruturais importantes para Montoya e sua equipe, vamos torcer para que ajude o colombiano, que nesta temporada não tem consigo resultados tão satisfatórios.

Montoyucho está em 17º na classificação do campeonato, 59 pontos atrás do décimo colocado, que entra para o Chase. E faltam só 7 corridas para começar esta etapa decisiva do campeonato.

Beijinhos, Ludy