Tiago Monteiro converted his qualifying performances into a brace of top five results during rounds nine and ten of the 2012 World Touring Car Championship from the Hungaroring near Budapest.
As well as securing his best results of the season to date, the former Formula One driver was the top scoring SEAT driver over the weekend having secured twenty Championship points. The results have moved him up to P11 in the drivers’ Championship.
Monteiro was able to banish his bad luck from the previous weekend in Slovakia and secured two top five results after avoiding the incidents at the first corner and then defending hard from his rivals behind.
“I managed to avoid an incident in the start and that played a major role for the rest of the race,” explained Monteiro, who is still using the SunRed 1.6litre turbocharged engine compared to the new SEAT Sport 1.6litre turbocharged engine.
The SEAT Tuenti Racing Team driver had lined up seventh and was challenging for fourth heading into the first corner but ended up fifth, where he remained for the rest of the race.
“I attacked as much as I could and the car would let me to hold onto my 5th place,” added Monteiro.
Round ten saw Monteiro lining up fourth but he made a less than impressive start but he was able to stick with the lead pack for the whole race duration.
“The start was not as great but I got into 5th position and I resisted the attacks of my competitors until the checkered flag,” said Monteiro, who finished the race three seconds away from a top three finish and the third fastest lap of the race and best for a SEAT.
“My philosophy is to never give up and until the new engine is installed in my car, I will fight to optimize my package,” concluded Monteiro, who has seen the SEAT Tuenti Racing Team work to improve the performance of the SunRed 1.6litre turbocharged engine.
“That’s what we managed to do this weekend and I am very happy. I would like to thank Sun Red and SEAT for this development work. The two fifth place finishes are the best results we could have hoped for, and they taste like a victory to me.”
Austria and the Salzburgring are next up for Monteiro, over the 18/19 May. Salzburgring marks the midway point of the 2012 campaign.