JANUARY 29, 2007

JPM wins Daytona 24 Hours

Juan Pablo Montoya has won the Daytona 24 Hours, sharing his Chip Ganassi Riley-Lexus with Scott Pruett and Salvador Duran. The former McLaren F1 driver was racing in the endurance as a one-off for his new employer Ganassi. The victory means that he is only the second driver ever to win the Indianapolis 500, the Daytona 24 Hours and a Grand Prix victory. Montoya will start his NASCAR Nextel Cup campaign with Ganassi at Daytona on February 10.

The race was a good one with three cars fighting for the win with a couple of hours to go. Montoya's Telmex-sponsored car battled with the Citgo/Samax Riley-Pontiac driven by Ryan Dalziel/Patrick Carpentier/Darren Manning/Milka Duno and the SunTrust Riley-Pontiac of Max Angelelli/Jan Magnussen/Wayne Taylor/Jeff Gordon, but in the end Montoya's co-driver Pruett took the flag 75secs ahead of Carpentier.