Juan Pablo Montoya to test Risi Ferrari at Sebring

John Dagys

Juan Pablo Montoya will test Risi Competizione’s Ferrari 488 GTE in this week’s IMSA-sanctioned test at Sebring International Raceway.

Sportscar365 has learned that the two-time Indianapolis 500 winner will turn laps in the team’s GT Le Mans class contender on Friday, an opportunity that came about through one of Risi’s mechanics, according to team manager Dave Sims.

“Our chief mechanic used to be his mechanic in GP2 with Searls Racing in the old days,” Sims told FOXSports.com.

“He’s a friend of his. He said, ‘Would you like to drive a Ferrari?’ [Juan] said, ‘Yeah’ and Giuseppe said, ‘Yeah. He can have a few laps tomorrow.’

“We’ll see how it goes. Ferrari said they don’t mind. We’ll slip him in for a couple of hours somewhere.”

When asked about the possibility of the three-time Rolex 24 at Daytona overall winner being part of the team’s lineup for next month’s Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, Sims said that’s not a possibility.

“It’s the same drivers for the race. Fisichella-Vilander-Calado. Absolutely,” he said.

“We’re just going to tell him to easy-over! It brightens the whole paddock a little bit.”

The Sebring test will mark Montoya’s debut at the wheel of a GT car, after sampling Porsche’s 919 Hybrid in the FIA World Endurance Championship Rookie Test in Bahrain in 2015.

While currently under contract with Team Penske, the Colombian does not have a full-season program planned for this year and has been linked to Penske’s reported DPi venture with Honda for 2018.