Photo: WTCR Media

Tiago Monteiro raring to go in 2019 after successful return at Suzuka

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Tiago Monteiro is looking ahead to the 2019 World Touring Car Cup season after a successful return to racing at Suzuka, just missing the points in the final race in the Boutsen Ginion Racing Honda Civic TCR.

Last year’s WTCC drivers’ championship contender was in the mix from the off after 14 months away from the race track, and at a circuit where the Hondas generally struggled, it was difficult to make a mark.

Monteiro secured two 15th place finishes in the first two races, before taking 11th in Race 3, just two-tenths from the top ten, behind the Team WRT Audi RS 3 LMS of last year’s TCR International Series champion Jean-Karl Vernay.

The main focus of the weekend though was that the Portuguese driver felt no ill effects as a result of his injuries from his testing crash in Spain last year, and after a trouble-free and competitive outing, the 42-year-old is now looking ahead to racing a full season in 2019 in the second year of his new Honda contract.

“There was always a question mark over how I’d feel, I didn’t know exactly how I was going to be or react, but it went a little bit better than expected,” said Monteiro to TouringCarTimes.

“The feeling and the confidence came pretty quickly and everything was OK. I was in the fight, I was enjoying it and getting faster and faster throughout the weekend.

“The concern would be any side effects, or my eyes reaction or headaches, so my report to the doctors is going to be quite positive, and I have no doubts now in my head over my ability.”

Monteiro will sit out the next round at Macau, with Chinese driver Ma Qing Hua deputising again at the Belgian team, while he focuses on being back for the full 2019 season, with Honda set to step up their programme to be able to compete with the likes of Hyundai and new entrant Lynk & Co.

“Now, we have to prepare over the winter as best as possible,” said an eager Monteiro. “Everybody’s realised that the championship bar is set really high, Honda have realised that, so I think we’ll be doing some good work over the winter to prepare for next year, where we know we’re going to have some tough competition. I count around 20 pro drivers next year, so it’s going to be fantastic.”