Tiago makes a strong comeback in Suzuka

At long last! After more than 400 days, Tiago Monteiro has competed in his first weekend of racing in the World Touring Car Cup (WTCR). The Portuguese pilot, who is sponsored by Brose, was out for more than a year after an accident in a test drive last September, in which he suffered serious head and neck injuries. He then celebrated an emotional comeback in Suzuka last weekend – in the races on the home turf of his Honda team.

“What a weekend!” said a radiant Tiago after his return to motor racing: “Officially, I didn’t set myself any targets for Suzuka. But I certainly wanted to prove that I can be competitive again from the outset.” And the 42-year-old was definitely that on the Suzuka International Racing Course. His performance was even almost enough to capture his first points.

Tiago finished 11th in his Honda Civic in the third race at the ninth and penultimate port of call in this year’s championship. Just 0.2 seconds separated the ex-Formula 1 pilot from capturing a position among the top ten and so getting among the points. Tiago also turned in a strong performance in the first two races. Starting from 17th on the grid in the first race, he crossed the line in 15th, while in the second he improved one position during the race to move up from 16 to 15.

Tiago praises his team’s work

“The team did a fantastic job and made the car better from day to day. On a normal weekend of racing, i.e. if the second qualifying has been held on the same day as races two and three, I would definitely have been able to start from a spot among the top ten,” said Tiago, who lined up in 16th on the grid for the third race.

Tiago was leading the driver’s championship in the World Touring Car Championship last year until his accident in Barcelona. A lot has changed since then. The World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) has become the World Touring Car Cup (WTCR) this year. Before the season began, he himself joined the Belgian Bousten Ginion Racing team, whose cars run on Honda engines and which is given technical support by the Honda partner JAS Motorsport.

“There were times when the situation looked pretty bleak, but I never lost hope that this day would come,” said Tiago about his return to motor racing. He added that it felt great to be back the whole weekend. “I’m very happy about how everything went,” said Tiago. He will probably not line up for the final weekend of racing in Macau in three weeks’ time so as to already start preparing for next season. He termed the races in Suzuka “a great start” for that. We wish him all the best in his endeavor to compete in the entire 2019 season in his strong form of old.

Source: FIA WTCR / Eurosport Events