It was the first time that Colombian driver Juan Pablo Montoya and his son, Sebastián, had run a professional car race together. The competition that marked this milestone was the 12 Hours of Sebring, an American automobile race held at the Sebring Autodrome, Florida, which consists of a valid endurance of prototype sports vehicles and large passenger cars.
But the ending wasn't happy. With nine hours left to finish the competition, Juan Pablo Montoya crashed and failed to continue in the race. Luck played a trick on the team of Colombians who shared a car with Swedish rider Henrik Hedman in the DragonSpeed team.
The collision came when the former Formula 1 rider for the McLaren and Williams teams could not avoid an accident on the track and ended up hitting his car against the retaining walls. At the time of the accident, the father and son team were leading in their category after, in Sebastian's first shift, he placed first.
The youngest of the Montoya was in charge of driving the DragonSpeed team's tank from the start, leaving good feelings and overcoming the difficulties that came his way, to the point of controlling the race.
The unfortunate event occurred at turn one when there were two hours and 45 minutes before the second valida of the 12 hours of Sebring that was held in Florida, United States. Fortunately, the event only affected the car and the driver did not suffer any physical damage, but this accident ended the performance of the Colombian drivers in this distinguished motorsport competition.
As for Sebastián Montoya, minutes after ending his participation he said that “it was obviously not what we expected. But my dad had nothing to do. He has a lot of experience. What he did I think is what we all would have done. But I feel very happy, the team worked very well and very hard,” he said of the accident.
On the other hand, the Colombian driver Gabby Chaves also started this race with the Andretti Autosport team, but he did not finish the race either due to a mechanical problem that his car suffered.
Previously, Sebastian recognized this as “a great opportunity for me and I am very grateful for the opportunity that DragonSpeed and Henrik Hedman have given me” and of course pointed out that “running with dad is a dream come true, since he has been my idol”.
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The 12 Hours of Sebring started from Wednesday 16th with practices for the Porsche Carrera Cup and Michelin Pilot Challenge and from Thursday until Saturday 19th for the rest of the WeatherTech Chapionship categories.
This sporting event has been held at the Sebring International Raceway in Florida since 1952, being one of the most important competitions of its kind in the Americas, along with the 24 Hours of Daytona and the 10 hours of the Petit Le Mans on Road Atlanta (Georgia).
This race corresponds to the second valid race of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and is the 70th edition of the 12 Hours of Sebring that historically has the European teams Porsche, Ferrari and Audi leading in victories with 18, 12 and 11 wins, respectively.
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