Monteiro comes home from Valencia WTCC with his first points

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April 2, 2012 in Motorsport

Monteiro comes home from Valencia WTCC with his first points

Both races held this weekend in Valencia for the second meeting of the FIA World Touring Car Championship promised to be extremely complex for Tiago Monteiro, but the Portuguese driver still secured his first points of the season.

In the start of the first race, where he took off from the 11th position on the starting grid at the wheel of the SEAT Leon powered by the SunRed 1.6 liter Turbo engine, which has not been upgraded since 2011, the Portuguese driver managed to keep control of his car when a competitor forced him onto the grass, and then got the most out of his car, crossing the finish line in 9th. With this finish, Tiago Monteiro brought home his first two points of the year.

In the second race, the SEAT Leon #18 car driver started from 11th position, and was unable to give a repeat performance of the first race. He crossed the finish line in the same position as the start. "The end result is better than we expected," Tiago Monteiro pointed out, "We knew that tyre degradation would dictate the scenario for the race, but I managed to save them in the beginning of the race and then move up two positions to finish the race in 9th place. Given the conditions, from my standpoint it is a good result."

During the second race, the battling was more bitter. "It was a more intense race and I had to drive at the limit of the car's abilities. I tried to gain positions and it forced me to drive a more aggressive and more demanding race for the car. In this context, 13th is still rather positive."

Despite a final result that does not reflect his ambitions and talent, Portuguese driver Tiago Monteiro leaves Valencia with the feeling of a job done. "Given our handicap compared to the competition, and after all that we managed to do on the track, I can't be disappointed in terms of my competitiveness. It would have been impossible to do better. The new SEAT engine will soon be installed in my car and I hope that our patience will be rewarded," concluded Tiago Monteiro.

The next FIA WTCC races will be held two weeks from now in Morocco.

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