Photo: WTCC Media

Tiago Monteiro proud to be joining Honda

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After almost six years with SEAT, Tiago Monteiro will join the Honda works programme run by JAS Motorsport, racing from Suzuka this year as the Italian team return to the WTCC for the first time since 2006 with the new Honda Civic.

The Portuguese driver has raced for SEAT since joining the WTCC in the third year of the Championship back in 2007, fresh out of Formula One where he was racing with the Midland F1 Racing team.

“It is a source of great pride to have been chosen by Honda to represent the brand’s colours and this iconic start already during this 2012 season,” said Monteiro. “I am very enthusiastic and motivated by the desire to launch this project.”

Both Tarquini and Monteiro will get track time in the car over the next few weeks, despite each drivers commitment to the Lukoil Racing and SUNRED teams respectively.

Tarquini is committed to race for the SEAT Sport-run Lukoil Racing Team until the end of the season, whilst Monteiro will be allowed out of his contract early to contest the last three races of this year’s Championship with the prototype Honda Civic Super 2000 car.

“There will be three sessions of two days each,” explains Monteiro. “Gabriele will start the tests and I will finish them. I will then also drive two additional days in Sugo, Japan, before the first race.”

“We have a lot of work ahead of us, but essential work that is very interesting for a driver. We have to develop the car starting from scratch, but it is a very rewarding task and I know that beforehand Honda R&D, JAS Motorsport, Mugen and its technical crew have all the tools to prepare a car with strong potential.”

“In this critical time in my career, I am turning a page and I would like to thank SEAT Sport and SEAT Portugal especially for all their support but also SUNRED for the last two years. I have been part of a family that helped me to progress both as a driver and as a human being. Thanks to everyone.”

Monteiro also reflects on joining Honda will be a memorable step for him, as the 35-year-old’s first motorcycle was a Honda QR 50, remarking:
“It’s a bike that played a special role in my adolescence…I had other bikes, most were Hondas, and I always kept them with me. Under the current circumstances, that is an important detail and this brand always had a special meaning to me.”