Tiago Monteiro and Nicky Catsburg to start from the back in Motegi

Honda driver Tiago Monteiro and Lada’s Nicky Catsburg will both start from the back of the grid for the first race on Sunday at Motegi, regardless of where they qualify following engine change penalties taken this weekend.

Monteiro and Catsburg’s cars were both heavily damaged in the second race at Vila Real back in July, and so both will face the inevitable grid penalty as a result of changing the engines in their Honda Civic and Lada Vesta WTCC cars respectively this weekend.

Monteiro was caught up in an incident at the start of race two in Portugal with the two Ladas of Catsburg and then-Lada driver Jaap van Lagen ahead of him, which saw him sustain heavy damage as well as an injured ankle, while Catsburg crashed out two laps from the end of the race in his Vesta WTCC, causing the race to finish under a red flag.

Qualifying will stay play an important part for both drivers today, as the grid for race two will be decided based on the top ten reversed, which will mean both drivers are likely to strategically position themselves towards the back of the top ten in qualifying.