Juan Pablo Montoya believes he had the car beneath him to win the opening dual in Detroit on Saturday, but a late race boost problem prevented him from challenging Sebastien Bourdais and Conor Daly ahead of him, leaving the Colombian third at the chequered flag.
Montoya was the best placed of the Team Penske quartet at the end of the race, and also admitted to gambling on rain hitting the track that never transpired, even though the radar showed it was in the area and apparently imminent.
Despite this, the Colombian star was happy to get a good haul of points and finish on the podium for the first time since winning the opening race of the season around the streets of St Petersburg.
“My guys did a good job (in the pits) but where we missed it was when we were trying to save fuel when we were leading to try to make it to the rain, but the rain never happened,” said Montoya. “It was the right move if you were looking at the radar.
“We had good pace and everyone at Verizon and Chevy and Team Penske have done an amazing job. We had a boost problem at the end. If we didn’t have that I think we would have won it anyway.
“It’s good to get back on the podium and a good result.”
