Tiago Monteiro leaves Hungary after a splendid pair of 5th place finishes on the Hungaroring circuit this weekend in the 5th meeting of the FIA World Touring Car Championship (WTCC). The Portuguese driver had his best result of the season so far, which was also the best showing (20 points) of a SEAT driver in Hungary.

Tiago Monteiro had his revenge on fate, which had cruelly struck him in the serie's last races on the Slovakia Ring. Although he still did not have the latest version of the SEAT engine, the driver of the Leon #18 car converted his excellent qualifying performance into good results through fine and daring driving. "I managed to avoid an incident in the start and that played a major role for the rest of the race," explained Tiago, who had been 7th on the starting grid in the first race and fighting for 4th position in the first corner. "I attacked as much as I could and the car would let me to hold onto my 5th place."

The start in the second race was less brilliant, but Tiago still managed to remain in the leading pack. "The start was not as great but I got into 5th position and I resisted the attacks of my competitors until the checkered flag." Tiago Monteiro finished three seconds behind the podium and signed the 3rd fastest lap in race, the best of a SEAT Leon. His work and that of his team were essential in gaining his car's competitiveness, in improving the behavior of the chassis but also the SEAT 1.6 liter turbo engine. "My philosophy is to never give up and until the new engine is installed in my car, I will fight to optimize my package. That's what we managed to do this weekend and I am very happy. I would like to thank Sun Red and SEAT for this development work. The two fifth place finishes are the best results we could have hoped for, and they taste like a victory to me," Tiago concluded.

The next FIA WTCC races will be held May 19 and 20 in Austria.