Tiago Monteiro left the second round of the 2012 World Touring Car Championship at Valencia’s Ricardo Tormo Circuit having opened his points scoring account for the season with a ninth place finish in the first race.
Driving one of the Tuenti Racing Team cars with the SunRed 1.6litre turbocharged engine, which hasn’t been upgraded since the end of the 2011 campaign, the former Formula One driver acknowledged that he would be at a disadvantage compared to the other SEAT drivers.
“Given our handicap compared to the competition, and after all that we managed to do on the track, I can’t be disappointed in terms of my competitiveness. It would have been impossible to do better. The new SEAT engine will soon be installed in my car and I hope that our patience will be rewarded,” explained Monteiro.
The third round of the campaign saw Monteiro forced onto the grass during the early stages but he was able to hold on and brought home the #18 car ninth, and secured his first two championship points of the campaign.
“The end result is better than we expected,” added Monteiro. “We knew that tyre degradation would dictate the scenario for the race, but I managed to save them in the beginning of the race and then move up two positions to finish the race in 9th place. Given the conditions, from my standpoint it is a good result.”
The fourth round of the season was a tougher one for Monteiro, and he was unable to repeat his points scoring finish from the opening race as he took the flag in eleventh.
“It was a more intense race and I had to drive at the limit of the car’s abilities,” concluded the Portuguese driver. “ I tried to gain positions and it forced me to drive a more aggressive and more demanding race for the car. In this context, 13th is still rather positive.”
Next up for Monteiro is a trip to Morocco over the 14/15 April.