Honda’s Tiago Monteiro says he is willing to ‘take some risks’ in order to secure a podium finish in the World Touring Car Championship races on the streets of Vila Real, after qualifying in fourth on Saturday.
Monteiro had looked set to join Honda team-mate Norbert Michelisz on the front row of the grid in qualifying, but a huge slide on his Q3 lap at the final corner dropped Monteiro to fourth, as he fought to stop the car hitting the barriers.
The Portuguese star later explained that the cause of the slide was a leak in his dampers, which also blighted him in the MAC3 manufacturers’ challenge afterwards, causing Honda to lose out to Polestar.
“The car was strong and I was really confident, and went faster than my pole position from last year here in Q2,” said Monteiro. “I knew there was still a margin [to be gained] as we are always improving in street tracks.
“I was doing OK on my Q3 lap and I started to feel a little bit less grip for some reason, so I thought maybe I was pushing a bit too hard.
“In the end it was the leaking dampers. As you could see in the last corner I had a big slide; it was [caused by] oil coming from the front damper to the rear tyres and obviously it made things a little bit harder.
“Even so, I think first row was do-able as I was still doing the same lap times as my Q2 times. In the end I’m a little bit frustrated of course, but it was going to be difficult to catch Norbi – he was really fast.”
Monteiro will start fourth for the Main Race, and before that he will be seventh for the reversed-grid Opening Race – and he admits that he is willing to take risks in order to secure a podium and regain the championship lead, where he is just one point behind leader Nicky Catsburg.
“When you lose 40 points in one weekend [at the Nordschleife] now you have to think more seriously, whereas before we were just doing each race by race and trying to score as many points as possible.
“Tomorrow I will take some risks to try to go for a podium but I will think about the championship too; it’s very important.”
The Opening Race takers place at 16:30 WEST (16:30 BST, 17:30 CEST) with the Main Race following at 17:45 WEST (17:45 BST, 18:45 CEST).