IndyCar: "I feel I'm still lacking a little bit," Montoya says

Juan Pablo Montoya insists that he is still yet to hit full stride despite earning the first pole position since his IndyCar comeback at Pocono on Saturday.

Montoya beat teammate Will Power to secure his first open-wheel  pole position since the 2005 Belgian Grand Prix, and his first in Indy cars since Surfers Paradise in 2000.

He also started from pole at Pocono in Sprint Cup in 2012, putting him into a select group to have won IndyCar and NASCAR poles at the same venue. The Colombian's performances have improved consistently through his 2014 campaign, but despite the milestone qualifying result, he believes that there is still more to come.

"It feels like new territory because I haven't done it for such a long time," he admitted. "I know how to do it, but knowing how to do it and actually getting to do it is two different things. It takes time.

"I feel I'm still lacking a little bit. I'm getting a lot better. I feel a lot more comfortable in the car. But I need to be a little more proactive with the car, understand it a little better, [to] help the engineers a little more. I can tell them what the car is doing, but the more I learn, the more I can tell them which direction we need to go with the car to make ourselves better.

"We've got two really good teammates in Will and Helio [Castroneves], and we help each other and everything, but I feel to be able to get an edge on them I've got to do a better job of understanding the cars so I can get ahead of them. It's the only way."

Montoya believes that the difficulty in passing around Pocono will give him some advantage in Sunday's race, but he says that he still expects a difficult afternoon in the second leg of the Triple Crown.

"It's really hard to pass here, so I think track position is important," he said. "Also I think fuel mileage is key, as well. We'll see. We've just got to plan the race and see what it brings.

"That's all you can do. Whatever it gives you, you've got to be smart, you've got to run all day. It's double points, and you've got to take that into consideration and you've got to be there at the end."