Porsche confirms date for Montoya LMP1 test
Porsche has confirmed that IndyCar driver Juan Pablo Montoya will test with Le Mans 24 Hours champion team next month.
Alexander Hitzinger, LMP1 technical director with Juan Pablo Montoya
Porsche AG
This year's Indianapolis 500 winner will sample LMP1 machinery for the first time in Bahrain on Sunday November 22, the day after the final race of the 2015 FIA WEC season.
Porsche team manager Andreas Siedl confirmed to Motorsport.com last month that Montoya would test the Porsche 919 Hybrid.
Montoya is well known to Siedl and other top Porsche management, many of whom worked with him at BMW when the Colombian drove for the Williams F1 team, which were partnered with the Stuttgart manufacturer between 2001 and 2004.
Porsche is in no hurry to confirm a potential replacement for Nico Hulkenberg at Le Mans next season.
This year's Le Mans winner will be unable to defend his title if the provisional date for the European Grand Prix at Baku is confirmed.
Motorsport.com understands that all six of its current and regular WEC drivers will remain as LMP1 racers in 2016.
With Nick Tandy and Earl Bamber also highly likely to be confirmed in a third LMP1 car for at least Spa and Le Mans once again, rumours have already started to circulate that Montoya could join them.
However, far more likely for next season is the option of a more concentrated test programme for Montoya from the end of the IndyCar season onward, in preparation for a full campaign with Porsche in 2017.
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