Tiago Monteiro secured his first podium of the 2013 campaign in what was his strongest weekend of the season during rounds 5 and 6 of the 2013 World Touring Car Championship.
“This first podium of the season with Honda has a very special taste!” said a jubilant Monteiro.
Having qualified on the front row as part of a Honda 1-2-3 lock out, the Portuguese ace converted his front row start into his first podium finish of the season, despite the pressure from Norbert Michelisz and Yvan Muller behind.
“I could have pushed a little bit more, but it would have been difficult to pass because Gabriele had the same pace. Norbert put pressure on me in the final laps, but I preferred not to ask too much of my tires. Last year there were several punctures when they were pushed to the limit and I didn’t want to take that risk,” explains Monteiro.
With his front row start for the opening race came a fifth row start for race 2, and despite starting ninth the former SEAT driver was in contention for a second podium finish and ran as high as third during the opening lap.
Muller knocked him out of third on the second lap and this was the only disappointment from the weekend for Monteiro. He recovered from seventh to finish fifth.
“After a good start, I was able to fight for the podium and I did not appreciate the attack, which was too optimistic,” added a frustrated Monteiro.
“I have already expressed my displeasure to Yvan. After falling to 7th place, my job was then very difficult but I passed two opponents and finished 5th, despite this, it was still a good result and the race was definitely interesting. We must continue to work hard as the Honda Civic still has room for improvement. We are on the right track, but are still far from having completed our development work.”
His weekends results gave him a 32 point haul and this was enough for him to jump up the standings into 8th place overall.
“I could not be happier. It was a great weekend for me, for Honda and for the entire Jas Motorsport team. My thanks and congratulations to all!” he added.
“We scored a lot of points today and have achieved a good result for the championship.”