Tiago Monteiro saw his 2012 FIA World Touring Car Championship start in the worst possible way as he suffered a double retirement at the wheel of his SEAT Tuenti Racing Team SEAT Leon TDi.
The first race of the season saw Monteiro line up further down the grid than he expected, and this meant that he caught up in the first corner incident, despite his best efforts to get around all of the problems. The subsequent contact meant that his first race was over before it has really begun.
“I had a good start that enabled me to move up several positions, but which finished in contact with several competitors and which prevented me from continuing the race,” summed up the Portuguese racer.
The second race of the weekend saw Monteiro survive the first corner and as the race progressed, he moved up the order and into the top ten before having to retire for the second time in the day, and which rounded off a far from ideal weekend for the former Formula One driver.
Monteiro added: “I moved up several positions, I did some good overtaking, but I had problems with turbo pressure which got worse and forced me to DNF. It was not the start to the season that I was hoping for! Luck was not on my side this weekend, but it was just the first two races and I am not going to give up.”
Rounds three and four of the 2012 FIA World Touring Car Championship take place at the Ricardo Tormo circuit in Valencia, Spain over the 31 March/1 April.