Tiago Monteiro: “I had to just get on with my job”

Tiago Monteiro said he had been left with no option but to just “get on with the job” after being unable to start the opening World Touring Car Cup race of the weekend at Suzuka from pole position.

The Portugese driver had set the pace in qualifying in his Honda Civic Type R TCR but was then hit with a penalty for “driving unnecessarily slowly” on an out lap during the session – resulting in a three place grid drop that left him to start in fourth.

Monteiro held his position at the start before moving up into third when Frédéric Vervisch retired with a puncture, bringing out the first safety car of the race.

With fellow Honda driver Esteban Guerrieri leading the way, Monteiro then focused on keeping the Lynk & Co of Thed Björk at bay to take valuable points off the Swedish racer and kept his position through to the deployment of the second safety car, which would stay on track until the chequered flag to secure his second podium finish of the campaign.

“I’m still trying to understand the logic behind what happened in qualifying,” he said. “Of course, I’m not happy with the decision, but once it is taken you have to go on with your job and do you job as best possible.

“A podium is a podium and of course I’ll take it. The important thing is we had the pace in the wet and we seemed to be okay in the dry, probably not the fastest but we are still strong. This is the most important thing and we have a championship to win. Every point is important and if I can steal points from other competitors to help Esteban, then it’s important as well. We have a certain goal until the end of the season and that’s what we’ll do.”

Suzuka was the circuit where Monteiro returned to action twelve months ago following the testing accident in Barcelona that could have ended his career, and twelve months on, the former F1 racer said he was pleased to now be fighting back towards the sharp end of the grid.

“When I came back I knew there was a lot missing,” he said. “I was happy as it was a miracle to be back after what the doctors had been saying. But when I started here last year I wasn’t on the pace and I was still not 100 per cent. But it was an important step. It was done, I was back and I needed to work even more to come back to this championship with this car and these tyres.

“A year later to be here on pole position and then on the podium is really a nice story, to be honest. I’m glad the second part of the season is going much better for us. We took a bit of time to get into a rhythm, but here we are now.”