Photo: WTCC

Tiago Monteiro assured his Barcelona crash injuries are temporary

By

Tiago Monteiro has said the medical team handling his recovery from his crash last month believe his injuries are temporary, and his main issue is a problem with his eyes as a result of the nerve compression from the hit.

The Portuguese driver has explained in the final part of his interview released by the championship promoter, that he’s been given assurance that all his injuries are temporary, and that he will be able to fully recover with time to heal.

“The doctors were confident that every injury that I had was not permanent,” he said. “You know the compression I had, the nerves in my eyes, which is now giving me issues in my eyes it’s temporary. The question is how long, but it is temporary.

“I was still in Barcelona when they reassured me that all the pain, all the problems that I had at the time were not permanent and really temporary, just a question of time. But I was telling them I don’t have much time, I have a race in a month and a half or something I have to be ready. Some of them were like ‘we’ll see about that’ but some of them were, you know, some of your problems can go faster than others and there are chances you can be there in China.

“I am impressed that in four or five days the level of recovery has been quite impressive. Again it can be dangerous because I want to do more than I should maybe yes but we have a race in china in 10 days and I want to be there. My whole team is behind me helping me get me ready for that.

“The doctors, the physios, my family, everybody is thinking about that goal, I am personally thinking about that goal. it is a race against the clock. Now we are approaching that time where in a few days my body can tell me if I can race or not but not only the body, the doctors will me of course, the doctors will not allow me to race if it’s not safe to do so. If there is any risk of not recovering or if the body has not recovered enough to sustain another impact in that case they will not allow me to race, which is understandable. But of course, deep inside of me I believe I can be there.”

The interview with Tiago was recorded last Wednesday (October 4th). The championship leader will have a further assessment before it’s confirmed if he’s able to take part in this weekend’s round of the WTCC at the Ningbo circuit in China.