The most important race weekend of the FIA World Touring Car Championship, WTCC, is fast approaching for Tiago Monteiro. On July 10 and 11, the # 18 Honda Civic driver will defend his colors and those of the Japanese brand in front of his home crowd on the Vila Real circuit in Portugal. This event means a lot to the native of Porto and as such he will do anything to please his home fans and secure a good result.

After the disappointment of the Paul Ricard event where he should have finished on the podium, Tiago hopes to achieve just that as he is confident that the Portuguese circuit should be easy to tame behind the wheel of his Honda Civic. "I am excited for the competition to begin. The last few weeks have been very busy in terms of promotion for the Vila Real races and I have felt enormous support from everyone. I want to thank them for that on the podium," said Tiago. "It is a circuit steeped in history, which I have heard a lot about, but I do not know all of it and I'm curious to find out."

On a street circuit, the way they work and approach the weekend is different to permanent tracks and Tiago knows what he has to do: "We must have a different approach than elsewhere because we can not risk it all early in the weekend. We must be careful and up the pace when it's appropriate. Qualifying will be very important and we will do our best to get the best result possible. My goal is to get on the podium and have two good races to give the public a good show on Vila Real. It will not be easy as we have seen in the past that our opponents are very strong, but I will give everything I have to reach my goal."