Top ten again for Monteiro, but picks up hefty fine

Tiago Monteiro made it into the top ten again at his home race in Portugal after having to run again after his first lap was deleted under the red flag, but was hit even harder by a 5,000 EUR fine from the stewards for passing under the red.

Monteiro was out on a fast lap when the red flags came out as the marshals were needed to recover Tom Chilton’s Arena Ford Focus, which had stopped on circuit with a broken track rod. Monteiro crossed the line and went seventh fastest, but the time was deleted as the red flag was already waving at the time.

“I thought my time was in before the red flag, then they cancelled it,” said Monteiro to TouringCarTimes. “But then my Team Principal went (to the officials) and they said it was a mistake, they were going to give it back so I thought OK, I don’t have to use my set of tyres, then they were not giving back so I had to go again.”

“It was tough because it was tight, a little bit of time could make a big difference in positions.”

Monteiro went on to set another lap which was ninth fastest which got him safely into Q2, where he went on to set the eighth fastest time and secured P8 on the grid for race one and third with the reverse grid race two.

“In Q2 it was a good lap, it was harder than the last few races in terms of balance and still in terms of acceleration, we’re quite good in top speed now but still lacking in acceleration compared to Pepe (Oriola).”

Monteiro, who was the first to suffer a puncture two weeks ago at the Salzburgring in race two, is concerned however about the car set-up for tomorrow, and admits they’ll need to run a less aggressive set-up on race day.

“The more power we find on the (engine) mapping, the more aggressive the car is, so I’m really struggling with understeering which could be worrying for the race,” he said.

Monteiro had passed a slowing Pepe Oriola on the way back to the pits during the red flag period in Q1. The team argued that Monteiro’s team-mate Oriola was slowing down with a mechanical problem and that it was safer for Monteiro to pass to return to the pits, but the stewards didn’t agree and levied a 5,000 EUR fine for Monteiro plus a five-place suspended penalty until the end of 2012 if he repeats the same offence.