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Tiago Monteiro delivers two beautiful races in China

But loses ground from Muller

By Emmanuel Touzot

27 September 2016 - 09:57
Tiago Monteiro delivers two beautiful

The 10th weekend of racing in the FIA World Touring Car Championship, WTCC, was one of the most complicated of the season for the official Honda team and their driver, Tiago Monteiro. On the Shanghai circuit, the Portuguese driver faced problems from the start of free practice and he was unable to fix them for qualifying, which saw him end up in 14th place. Consequently, Tiago was forced to fight tooth and nail in the race so that he could try and move up through the field and get back into the top 10. This was achieved in both races with two beautiful finishes in 10th and 8th places.

Two courageous races that reduced some of the frustration from the driver of the # 18 Honda Civic. In the first race, Tiago reached 9th place before falling victim to excessive tyre wear and lost a place before the finish. "I was determined to give the best of myself and the car. I made a good start and I won places. But the car was far from the performance which we are used to and we suffered towards the end of the race, the balance had deteriorated even more with tire wear. Under these conditions, 10th place was the best result I could expect," Tiago explained.

In the second race, Tiago made a thunderous start that allowed him to immediately fight with the best. "I made a great start and I did not give up. I gained a few places and I was up to 8th but we lost time on the straights and it was impossible to catch the cars ahead of me. We did not expect to have such a complicated weekend in China and unfortunately it ended with the loss of our second place in the championship. But there are still two races to go and mathematically anything is possible. Giving up is not an option!" concluded Tiago, who is now 3rd in the FIA WTCC championship, 31 points away from Yvan Muller.

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