Mixed feelings for Tiago Monteiro after losing potential opening race win at Termas

Tiago Monteiro kept second in the championship despite a difficult qualifying session on Saturday at Termas de Río Hondo, Argentina. The Honda driver’s gap to points leader José María López went up to 117 points, as the Citroën driver won the second race.

The Portugues driver does take some positives from the South American weekend: “There are positives and negatives to take from this weekend,” said Monteiro. “The positives are that I’ve had two very solid fourth places and that I’m still second in the drivers’ championship with only four rounds left, and that the race pace of the car was again very good.”

Monteiro admitted his frustration at not being able to challenge for a race win in the first heat as he slid wide at the third corner and lost a few places: “The main negative is that from P3 on the Opening Race grid, my aim was to win, and I didn’t achieve this. I made a great start and was alongside Tom Chilton at Turn 3, but I gave him room to avoid contact and unfortunately had a big slide on the dirty part of the circuit, which cost me momentum and let quite a few drivers pass me. It’s a shame, but you have to try these things; sometimes they work and sometimes they don’t.”

Next up for the WTCC is Honda’s home race in Japan at Motegi on September, 4th.