DragonSpeed will make its return to the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship, with Juan Pablo Montoya teaming up with his son Sebastian for the endurance rounds.
Montoya, the 2019 DPi champion, will be joined by team regular Henrik Hedman aboard the #81 ORECA 07-Gibson. Notably, that car will not contest the Rolex 24 at Daytona, as it is not a points-paying rounds for LMP2 teams. The American squad will still be present at Daytona, albeit with a different, yet-to-be-announced driver line-up.
The #81 car, driven by Hedman and the Montoyas, will instead first appear at the Twelve Hours of Sebring.
“I’m really happy to be back with DragonSpeed next season,” said Juan Pablo Montoya. “It’ll be a new adventure as we’ll be doing IMSA this time, where I’m really familiar with the tracks and race strategies, so it should be a lot of fun. I can’t wait to team up with Henrik again, and I’m even more excited to share a car with Sebastian for the first time.”
The former Indy 500 winner and F1 driver has not previously teamed up with his 16-year-old son. Sebastian tested DragonSpeed’s LMP2 car at the FIA WEC Rookie Test in Bahrain and posted impressive results, ending up as the day’s fastest rookie.
“This is a huge opportunity for me, and I’m so grateful for the chance DragonSpeed and Henrik have given me,” he said. “Racing with Dad is a dream come true as he’s been my idol growing up and being able to share a car with him is a dream come true.
“The Bahrain test was a great experience and the team helped me so much to improve in our short time together. I look forward to working with DragonSpeed again and making more progress.”
DragonSpeed has a strong record in IMSA competition in recent years, particularly at Daytona where it took the class win in both 2019 and 2020. Its last start in the championship outside of Daytona came at Road America in August 2020.
In 2021, the team raced in the FIA World Endurance Championship, winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the LMP2 Pro-Am class.
“It’s a great feeling to come back to IMSA with Henrik in 2022 after achieving our goal together at Le Mans,” said team principal Elton Julian. “He’s looking for a few more notches on his racing belt with our help, and I want to thank him once again for his confidence in DragonSpeed.”
“Working with Juan Pablo has been one of the highlights of my racing career, and there’s much more to come from the relationship, not least the opportunity to help Sebastian establish himself as a star in the making.”
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