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Montoya relishing Canada challenge as season heats up

Riding a wave of momentum from his first victory this season, Colombia's Juan Pablo Montoya is confident he can win again tomorrow and become a serious contender for the Formula One championship.

Montoya ended his 26-race victory drought two weeks ago in Monaco -- the second win of his F1 career -- and hopes for at least a top-three finish in the Canadian Grand Prix.

He had 25 points this season, and trails series leader Kimi Raikkonen of Finland by 23.

"Naturally, I am approaching Canada on a high," Montoya said. "The Monaco GP weekend was a huge boost for all the BMW Williams team as we managed to be strong and consistent on a particularly difficult track."

Now, he's racing on a track favorable to the Williams cars.

Montoya won the pole last year, beating Germany's Michael Schumacher's track record to get it, but engine failure knocked him out of the race early.

After besting the field in Monaco, Montoya believes he'll be competitive in Canada.

"More than the confidence that the win gave me, I believe that the Gilles Villeneuve Circuit should suit our package," Montoya said.

But Michael Schumacher, fresh off the signing this week of a new contract that will keep him with Ferrari through 2006, will be hard to beat.

The five-time F1 champion is looking for his sixth victory on the track, and will try to take the lead in the standings for the first time this season.

"I am really motivated for this race as I can try to overtake Raikkonen in the championship seeing as there is only a four-point gap," Schumacher said.

Hometown driver Jacque Villeneuve also will be looking for success on the track named after his late father. The 1997 series champion has never been very good here, with a best result of second in 1996. He has failed to finish the past two years.

He's also struggling through his fifth season with the BAR team. He has just three points through the first seven races this year, and was sidelined two weeks ago in Monaco by a failure of his Honda engine.

"Although we have had a lot of reliability issues at most of the past races this season, I am looking forward to the race in Montreal," Villeneuve said.
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