Important points for Monteiro in Argentina

Tiago Monteiro finished both races of the Argentine round in the FIA World Touring Car Championship, WTCC, in 4th place after two highly contested races. As a result, the Portuguese driver retains his 2nd place in the championship and continues race after race, to be focused on searching for another victory.

Third on the grid for the first race, Tiago was up into second position at the first corner and he almost took the lead. "I’m not able to fight for the title so the race win is my main goal," said Tiago, "I knew I had to have a bold start. My strategy could have been successful because I was about to take first place, but I had to put two wheels onto the grass and it broke my momentum and I lost several places. I tried to regain those places, but it was not possible."

For the second race, the prospects were less evident after starting from eighth on the grid. But another excellent start allowed the # 18 Honda Civic driver to grab 6th place on the first lap. "I saw that both drivers had possibly jumped the start so I didn’t want to risk too much in anticipation of a drive through for these two drivers, which would have made me automatically gain two places. But time passed and the penalty didn’t come. I still moved up two places when Muller and Filippi went off track. On the last lap, my Honda engine had a loss of power and I had no other purpose than to defend my 4th place. These are two good results in terms of points in the championship battle."

The next two races of the FIA WTCC will take place in Honda’s home land of Japan, on September 3 and 4, where Tiago will have the fight for victory in his heart.