Montoya Eyeing 'Special' Win at Indy

As Juan Pablo Montoya prepares to return to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the first time since his historic Indy 500 victory last year, he has declared that triumph one of the most significant moments in his career.

Montoya, who has admitted that he sees no new challenges in American racing after achieving tremendous success before he moved to Formula One, is aiming to be the first man to take the "road and oval double" at Indy. And he knows that if he can build on his victory at the last race in Italy, he can strike another one of those goals off the list.

"It's part of all my resume," he said. "Winning the Indy 500, winning the CART Championship have been the biggest two goals I've done in my career. That it's something really special. It's in my heart and I've got great memories from that. I think to win here this year would be something really special too.

"I won Indy in my rookie year and to get the win here in the U.S. Grand Prix in my rookie year, it would be just fantastic - but from saying it to doing it is a long way."

Montoya's success in the States saw him win the ChampCar championship in 1999 as well as the Indy 500 in 2000, and he still has many friends working in the American series. He is one of the few drivers out there who can actually compare Formula One and ChampCars, and he believes that the American series is not as tough on the brain as Grand Prix racing.

"I think mentally Formula One is very tough," he said. "You've got to be a lot stronger, and with Formula One you've got to be competitive to be able to win it."

But Montoya is not expecting an easy ride to back-to-back Indianapolis wins in the different categories, and has warned against big expectations.

"They are two different races," he said of comparisons to last year. "It's not that easy. We've been working really hard with the team to make it possible, but Indy is going to be a hard race like any other."