PRUETT: Helio, sportscars – and a million moving pieces
Monday, 10 July 2017
Marshall Pruett / Images by IndyCar, LePage/LAT
The plan uncovered last August at Mid-Ohio was fascinating: Team Penske, Honda, and veteran drivers leading the charge in a new IMSA Daytona Prototype international program. With the confirmation of the deal expected imminently, a trip through some of the behind-the-scenes maneuvering over the past 12 months seems appropriate.
One year removed from his second Indy 500 win and a runner-up finish in the Verizon IndyCar Series championship, Team Penske's Juan Pablo Montoya was facing the end of his full-time open-wheel career with the Captain. The speculation at Mid-Ohio positioned the mercurial Colombian as having to choose between staying on with Penske in a limited IndyCar role while waiting for a new Honda DPi effort to come online in 2018, or to search elsewhere for full-time IndyCar opportunities.
As RACER's Robin Miller wrote more than once after Mid-Ohio, Montoya met with numerous IndyCar team owners to explore his chances before settling on a return to Penske. With the announcement of his part-time role for 2017 that followed, namely as the fifth driver at Indianapolis, the rumors that sprang forth from Mid-Ohio looked a lot like facts.
We also learned around this time that a new Acura IMSA program, which Michael Shank Racing leading the factory charge using Acura NSX GT3s, was in motion. That 2017 deal, which was set for one year, would then give way to Honda using the Acura name in its top-tier Prototype program, just as it had in the American Le Mans Series.
The other driver tidbit from Mid-Ohio involved Penske's career man, Helio Castroneves. The energetic Brazilian was mentioned as a possible package deal with Montoya for the Acura DPi effort, but questions lingered on the timing of his involvement. Would it be 2018 or 2019 for his sports car shift?
Embroiled in yet another championship showdown, Castroneves would go on to finish third in the 2016 standings behind teammates Simon Pagenaud and Will Power. Compared to Montoya (BELOW), who finished a distant eighth behind the 1-2-3 orchestrated by his teammates, there was a feeling of one veteran being readied for a quick sports car transition while the other was still in IndyCar title-contending form. Montoya heading to IMSA in 2018 was little more than a formality. For Castroneves, however, the IMSA question continued to be one of optimal timing.