No animosity on contact between Monteiro and Morbidelli

Honda’s Tiago Monteiro and ALL-INKL Münnich Motorsport’s Gianni Morbidelli weren’t too worried about the incident on the final lap in Hungary, with Monteiro admitting he backed off in order to allow Morbidelli to recover, which left the two briefly vulnerable to Campos Racing’s Hugo Valente.

Morbidelli had to defend against Monteiro throughout the entire race after taking the lead at the start, and with Monteiro launching into second position in the Hungaroring-favouring Honda Civic WTCC.

Monteiro wan into the back of Morbidelli’s Chevrolet RML Cruze at the chicane at Turn 6, which unsettled the Italian’s car, but he was able to hold on ahead while Monteiro almost found himself losing second to Campos Racing driver Hugo Valente at the left-hander at Turn 8.

Morbidelli was admittedly struggling to hold on to the Chevrolet Cruze, which was suffering with a brake problem.

“All the time I had to pump the pedal just to control it, and unfortunately when I went out of the corner before the chicane I forgot to push on the pedal as I was too focussed on my mirrors…I couldn’t stop very well and for this corner my braking was not right,” said Morbidelli after the race.

“There was contact”, admitted Monteiro. “Gianni was always braking a bit earlier than what I would do, but he was in control so he could do it, but on the last lap while I was getting closer, he surprised me a bit. I don’t know if (he was braking) earlier or if maybe I was a bit later, but for sure I just touched him a little bit, he got a bit sideways so I lifted off as I wasn’t going to overtake him like this.”