Ganassi hope Montoya is released

McLaren boss Ron Dennis said earlier this month that Colombian Montoya would be contracted to the British squad until the end of the year, stopping the driver from testing or racing in the NASCAR series.

Dennis added that the chance of Montoya coming back to Formula One this season was "more than possible".

But Ganassi's partner Felix Sabates is still hopeful Montoya will make his NASCAR debut this season.

"We'll have everything made for him, and the day [Dennis] says, 'Go,' we'll test and hopefully run the last three or four races of the year," Sabates told the Miami Herald.

"Ron is a good guy, a winner, but we all have an ego. Tomorrow if [our driver] David Stremme comes to us and says, 'I'm going to drive for the IRL or ARCA,' I would have a heart attack, and I'm sure Ron did. He's dealing with a bruise.

"You get over the initial shock, and I don't think Ron wants to get in the way of a kid improving his career. We're hoping and praying they will let him go."

Montoya announced he was moving to stock car racing after a difficult season with McLaren. He made it clear his Formula One career was finished.