SBRS: Montoya pleased with early F1 effort

1994 Barber Pro Series racer Juan Montoya emerged from early tests in Spain and declared his first few outings with BMW WilliamsF1 largely a success. The Colombian-born pilot evaluated his session from the perspective of a student who has benefited from years of studying abroad.

"This morning has gone much better than expected,” said Montoya. "I picked the race lines very easily and was able to push a little harder towards the end of the morning. There are still a few things for me to improve in the car, but it looks promising so far."

Montoya, the 1999 CART FedEx Series champion and winner of the 2000 Indianapolis 500, believes he is a better driver now than when he last tested with the WilliamsF1 Team at the end of 1998.

"I am a bit smarter after two years in ChampCars," he added. "I've learned that you have got to get to know the car before you can really push. I am under no pressure to do a better job than Jenson Button because I am here for myself. I've only done about 30 laps in the car and there is a long road ahead. We have a lot of work to get through and I hope we have a productive last couple of days before we move on to Barcelona."

In CART news, Skip Barber trained Michael Andretti wasted no time, literally, in acclimating to his new ride at the first major test session of the CART FedEx Championship Series at Sebring International Raceway. Though no lap times were registered, the former CART Champion was unofficially quickest among testers on the 3.7-mile oval as he shook down his new Team Green No. 39 Reynard. Andretti won two races on the 2000 CART schedule with Newman-Haas Racing before moving over to Team Green at season's end.

- Andrew Torres