After being the fastest in two out of three practice sessions and the first qualifying session, Tiago Monteiro unexpectedly faced the worst-case scenario in the ninth round of the FIA World Touring Car Championship, WTCC, in China. The Portuguese driver was unable to get into the top ten in qualifying 2 due to problems with tyre grip, the same issue that hampered him in both races.

Tiago was forced to retire in race one and eventually crossed the finish line of race two down in 13th place. "It was a frustrating day. After the performance we had demonstrated early in the weekend, we were convinced that we would have a good qualifying and be able to fight for victory in both races. But then everything happened in reverse. I had a good start in race 1 and aspired to get points, but after a touch from an opponent I was forced to retire," the Portuguese driver explained.

With only a short time to repair the Honda Civic between races, the car suffered a failure and Tiago was forced to nurse it home in 13th place. "I had to start from the back of the grid, which made things difficult, but I still had the same pace as the front runners. Unfortunately after a while something broke on the right rear shock and it became impossible to make a good approach to the corners. It was a bad finish to a weekend that had started so well!" said a disillusioned Tiago.

"At the start we had a remarkable performance but the result does not reflect all the hard work we did. Now we have just four days to understand what happened and face a new challenge," he added, confident that everything will be different next week-end in Shanghai.