Strong start for Tiago Monteiro at Monza

Honda Racing Team JAS’s driver Tiago Monteiro enjoyed a good opening meeting in the rain at Monza, working his way forward after a tough qualifying to score points with fifth and eighth place finishes.

The Portuguese driver couldn’t catch a break in qualifying, hitting traffic on every run in Q1 which saw him qualify back in 15th spot. Monteiro moved up ten spots to grab fifth in the Honda Civic behind team-mate Gabriele Tarquini, but it was harder to move forward in the reverse grid second race, only able to finish eighth.

“Given the circumstances, we knew that the task would be difficult,” said Monteiro, “but I managed to make up lost ground in qualifying to reach the finish in fifth and eighth positions. These two results are important and allow us to score valuable points from the opening round of the championship. It is a happy ending to a weekend that got off to such a difficult start.”

Monteiro’s points tally put him in sixth place in the standings after Monza, four points behind the independent Chevrolet drivers Michel Nykjaer and Alex MacDowall, with the Chevrolet proving to be the car to beat at the Italian circuit.

“We know that we must work hard because our opponents are very strong,” added Monteiro. “The chassis of the Honda Civic is pretty good but we need to double our efforts and make a more powerful engine. The importance of this first round was to determine where we stand after winter testing so we could know which area to focus on.”