Race cancellation deprives Tiago Monteiro of possible victory in Slovakia

The weather was awful yesterday afternoon over the Slovakia Ring, where the 4th round of the FIA World Touring Car Championship WTCC was being held. The rain was so heavy that race direction was forced to red flag the first race before its completion and cancel the second, where Tiago Monteiro was scheduled to start from pole position. In the first race, the Portuguese driver finished seventh after a courageous fight from 10th place on the starting grid.

While recognizing that safety is of the utmost importance, Tiago believes that just as they did for race one, the start of the second race should have been made. "Not only was it important for me because I was on pole position, but I also think it was important for fans and television," said Tiago. "I have raced under worse conditions in other categories like F1, where we took the start and then the race was stopped thereafter. I'm not very happy of course, but I respect the decision for safety reasons."

Tiago's disappointment was heightened by the fact that the Honda Civic was very effective in these conditions and felt comfortable on the Slovakia Ring and in the rain. "In the first race, the Honda Civic was well balanced and efficient. Of course, starting as far back as I did, it was useless to take any unnecessary risks and ruin any chance I had in race two. I passed several rivals, but one of them hit me and I fell back to 10th place. I recovered three of those places when the race was cancelled. Starting from pole position, without making any mistakes I probably would have fighting for victory," concluded Tiago, who retains fourth place in the drivers' championship with 71 points, remaining the best placed Honda driver.

The next races will be held in two weeks' time on the Salzburgring circuit in Austria.