Tiago Monteiro saw his first qualifying campaign in the 2012 FIA World Touring Car Championship hampered by yellow and red flags, and this meant that he was unable to secure the result he expected.
The red flag towards the end of the first qualifying session meant that the Portuguese driver was unable to improve upon his eighth row of the grid start in the SEAT Leon TDi, and Monteiro accepted that it was a game of chance and that it didn’t pay off for him.
“It’s a scenario that every driver fears. It’s a game of chance, timing when to leave the pits. I made two attempts with two sets of new tyres and I got two flags, a yellow one and a red one!”
Monteiro also accepted that he was unable to challenge for Pole Position in qualifying but felt he could have been a part of the lead group on the grid: “It’s too bad because even if we could not aim for the pole position, we could have been well-positioned in the chase group.”
The end of the first part of qualifying was two minutes before time due to the red flag and this meant that Monteiro was unable to have a stab at moving up the field and knows that he has his work cut out in the two races around the Italian circuit.
Monteiro finished off by saying: “I did try to redo a lap in the hope of crossing the timing line to be able to do a final flying lap, however, but it was not possible. 16th position on the grid will force me to work even harder tomorrow but I won’t give up.”