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Juan Pablo Montoya says 2015 Indy 500 win much tougher than 2000

Juan Pablo Montoya says his first Indianapolis 500 win in 2000 was "easy" compared with his victory in this year's event on Sunday

Montoya won Indy as a rookie 15 years ago, when his Ganassi team became the first CART frontrunner to come back to the race in the Indy Racing League/Champ Car split period.

Then the reigning CART champion, Montoya dominated the race throughout.

His second triumph was earned after a fraught late battle with Penske team-mate Will Power and Ganassi's Scott Dixon, and following an early delay to repair damage incurred when Simona de Silvestro hit the back of his car.

"2000 was the start of my career," said Montoya. "I was really young.

"We came here, had a really good car, we dominated.

"That was an easy race. But this was a lot of work. When you have to work for it that hard, it's exciting.

"We kept adding downforce and adjusting the car. After the caution, when I was running eighth, I could barely keep up with them.

"I'm like 'we don't have anything'. Then as we kept adjusting the car: 'Oh, that's a little better, that's a little better'.

"That's what you've got to do, stay on top of the track.

"What really matters is the last 15 laps. That was fun."

Montoya believes the controversial new aero kits helped make the late overtaking possible.

"The aero kits have been a huge plus," he said. "We had racing that good because of the aero kits.

"IndyCar is going in the right direction. Of course, you're going to get a lot of people criticise it, look for the bad side of everything. But, no, it's really cool."

He fought back into a winning position despite needing a new rear wing assembly having been hit by Andretti driver de Silvestro during an early caution.

The Colombian admitted he had been anxious about such incidents after only qualifying 15th.

"That's what happens when you qualify bad," he said. "You find yourself with the wrong crowd.

"Simona didn't do it on purpose. She wants to prove she's that good. She has a lot of speed.

"But when you're racing for a job, it's a lot harder. You've got to understand the big picture."

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