Honda’s Tiago Monteiro says his crash at the start of the second World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) race in Vila Real was just “one of those things” after the Portuguese driver crashed heavily with LADA’s Jaap van Lagen.
Monteiro went for a narrowing gap between the LADAs of VanLagen and Nicky Catsburg at the start of race two, and as the gap between the cars closed it was too late for the Honda driver, whose start meant he was carrying much more momentum.
Contact between the trio sent both Monteiro and Van Lagen heavily into the barriers, with both cars losing a wheel in the accident. The safety car was subsequently deployed, with Monteiro taken to the circuit medical centre as a precaution.
“I’m OK, bit of a headache and my foot got stuck between the pedals but otherwise I am fine,” said Monteiro after the race. “I got a very good start, perhaps that was the problem, but I went for the gap between the two LADAs because they were slower off the line.
“Unfortunately they then started to move across in the same direction but it’s one of those things – it’s a street track with not much room. I was too deep in to back off but I thought maybe it would just be a little touch; unfortunately it was harder than that and we had wheel-to-wheel contact which broke my right wheel and that was it.”
It means Monteiro leaves his home race with just a fifth place result to his name, whilst team-mate Gabriele Tarquini went on to score a podium in race two.
Honda R&D’s Daisuke Horiuchi admitted that he was hoping for a strong result from three of the Civics on the grid, given their starting positions.
“Very sorry for Tiago but that is racing unfortunately,” added Horiuchi. “The cars were in excellent condition at the start and I was hopeful of a three-car result. Tiago got his usual fast start whilst Van Lagen was slow so he had to go left and go for the gap.”