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VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- The rule book says Juan Montoya is a rookie. His performance says otherwise.
Montoya showed again Sunday what a combination of incredible car control and total confidence can do as he drove away to a victory in the Vancouver Molson Indy, a race filled with trouble on a rainy afternoon.
The event, scheduled for 90 laps on the narrow 1.871-mile,
12-turn temporary street circuit near downtown, began under caution
in a heavy downpour with standing water and rooster tails of spray
challenging the 27 starters.
| |  | | The wet streets of Vancouver were no problem for Juan Montoya on Sunday. |
Before it ended, 16 laps short because of a two-hour time limit,
more than half the cars had spun or slid into tire walls or
concrete barriers, causing six caution flags for a total of 34 laps
of yellow.
Montoya finished 7.585 seconds in front of Patrick Carpentier
just as the sun finally broke through the clouds.
A single lap assured Montoya, a 23-year-old Colombian, of his
third straight victory and a 23-point lead in the CART FedEx Series
standings.
Dario Franchitti, who came into the race trailing Montoya by
just five points, was right behind the leader's Target/Chip Ganassi
Racing Reynard-Honda for a restart on lap 60.
As the leaders came up to speed on the drying track, Franchitti
dived to the inside of Montoya's red No. 4 and tried to slip past
in a tight right-hand turn. The cars bumped and Franchitti spun,
backing hard into a tire barrier and knocking his rear wing askew.
"I was a bit worried about Dario," Montoya said. "I knew he
was quick, but I knew we could be quicker than him.
"I knew he couldn't get me there, but he went for it. If I
would turn, I would spin as well, so I just gave him more room and
he just touched me and he spun."
Franchitti was able to drive his car back to the pits, where his
Team Kool Green crew tightened down the rear wing. The Scottish
driver managed to get back out and salvage a 10th-place finish and
three points.
"My team worked really hard to get me back into second place
and then I made a mistake," the 26-year-old Franchitti said. "I
saw the gap and went for it.
"I got halfway alongside Juan when he started to turn in. Then
I hit the brakes pretty hard and lost the back end. It wasn't a
clever move. Who knows if we had something for Montoya if we got
through there clean."
The incident gave second place to Paul Tracy, Franchitti's
teammate. But the Canadian driver ran into trouble later on the
same lap, brushing the wall and slamming into a concrete barrier.
"We could have finished 1-2 if we had just kept it off the
fences," the unhappy Tracy said.
"The only time I was worried was when Tracy passed me,"
Montoya said. "The car was sliding on me, but then he spun in
front of me three turns later."
Once Franchitti and Tracy were out of the picture, Montoya
simply had to keep his Firestone tires under him. Some teams
switched their cars to slick tires, but Ganassi chose to keep
Montoya on grooved rain tires, which tend to wear out fast in
drying conditions and also make the cars less easy to handle.
Asked if he considered changing to slicks, Montoya said, "The
track was getting dry except for two corners. If you had slicks on,
you could be fast everywhere else. But I think three cars on slicks
didn't get through those corners.
"My car was sliding, but I felt I had it under control,"
Montoya said. "If I felt it wasn't under control, I wouldn't be
pushing as hard."
Montoya averaged 65.279 mph while leading 73 of the 74 laps. As
he took the checkered flag, Ganassi shouted into the radio: "You
drove like a champion today, pal."
Montoya raised both arms in the air, pumping his fists in
victory.
Ganassi teammate Jimmy Vasser wound up third, followed by former
Vancouver winner Mauricio Gugelmin, rookie Cristiano da Matta and
Richie Hearn.
Montoya, who started from the pole for the sixth time this
season, easily led in the early going on the very wet track. But,
as the race line began to dry, Tracy took over second place and
began to track down the leader.
An early five-second lead disappeared and Tracy moved into first
place on lap 36. But, moments after his successful pass, Tracy got
off-line and bounced off a wall, falling to second. Franchitti then
passed his teammate for the runner-up spot on lap 51 after Tracy
tapped the rear of a slow-moving P.J. Jones, sending Jones spinning
in front of the leaders.
Sixteen cars were running at the end of the race, with 13 on the lead lap.
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ALSO SEE
Notebook: Vasser looking up in championship standings
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Dario Franchitti knocks himself out of the race while trying to pass Juan Montoya.
avi: 1190 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN
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