Montoya weighs in on Ambrose decision
Perennial category-hopper Juan Pablo Montoya says he is not surprised his former NASCAR rival Marcos Ambrose hasn't made a smooth transition into V8 Supercars.
Since the late 1990s the Colombian has raced in IndyCar, Formula One, NASCAR and in 2014 rejoined IndyCar with Team Penske.
Fresh off victory over the weekend in St Petersburg, Montoya - who knows the challenge of swapping from one category to another - weighed in on the Ambrose saga, saying his former competitor may have expected too much, too soon, when returning to V8 Supercars.
"I think he wanted performance," Montoya told Motorsport.com.
"I mean, he went from winning there to NASCAR, he thought he could come back and just win straight away, and I think it makes it hard when you have high expectations."
Two-time V8 Supercars title winnerAmbrose contested just one Championship event this season with the newly amalgamated DJR Team Penske, as well as racing in the short showcase races at the Australian Grand Prix.
While his Clipsal 500 performance was impressive, qualifying in the top 10 on Sunday and finishing 12th, the AGP proved more difficult, stuck at the back of the field and involved in incidents causing reasonable damage to his Ford Falcon FG X.
"You've got to understand that when you go back to something, it's going to take time, you've got to be humble for a while and you've got to take it as it comes," Montoya said.
"I still tell people that I don't [feel comfortable]," he added.
Ambrose opened up about his decision to step back and allow Scott Pye to drive the car at the weekend's Tyrepower Tasmania SuperSprint, admitting he doubted his ability to lead the team as he was expected to, and couldn't "feel" the car.
Meanwhile, Roger Penske said over the weekend he expected Ambrose to return behind the wheel of his V8 Supercar this season, and that a move back to NASCAR is not on the cards.
Penske reiterated that Ambrose had a long-term contract with the team to race V8 Supercars, having revealed at the Clipsal 500 it was a two-year deal.
"Marcos is still with the team and we are evaluating the car right now," Penske said on Saturday in St. Petersburg.
"I think the key thing is Marcos will get back in the car, we've got the long distances races and we've got a long-term deal with him, so it's not that he's out.
"I think we are more evaluating what are we going to do to be better?"
There is still no indication when Ambrose will return to the driver's seat, after Pye finished the three races at Symmons Plains 18th, 17th and 18th in the DJR Team Penske FG X Falcon.
Back in 1997, Montoya was Craig Lowndes' teammate in F3000, as Lowndes pursued his dream of ultimately making it to Formula One in Europe. The V8 Supercars star has since revealed he was the only driver to ever affect him mentally.
