WTCR: Tiago narrowly misses top ten twice

After a three-month break, the FIA WTCR World Touring Car Cup season continued. In Bahrain, the penultimate stop this year, Tiago Monteiro was not quite able to match the good result he achieved in August in Alsace. At that time, he managed two top ten finishes in one weekend for the first time this season. At the Bahrain International Circuit, however, he only managed twelfth place in both races. At least the Portuguese, who is supported by Brose, finished in the points twice.

The fact that it would be difficult to finish in the top ten on the circuit in Sakhir was already apparent in qualifying. "We knew that it could be a bit problematic in Bahrain because of the compensation weight. That proved to be the case," said Tiago. "Qualifying was not ideal, even if a little more could have been done with the car." So it was only enough for 14th place in qualifying, in which Tiago was already eliminated in the first heat.

In the first race, however, there was initially no sign of problems with the Honda Civic Type TCR. Tiago got away very well from the start and put in an impressive first lap, in which he was able to fight his way up to ninth place. As the race progressed, however, his tires degraded more and more under the weight of the additional 40 kilograms, so that the LIQUI MOLY Team Engstler driver only managed twelfth place at the finish.

Tiago shortens gap to top ten in second race

"In the first two or three laps I was just trying to survive. I didn't have such a bad feeling then. I also benefited from an accident in front of me, but my speed was also okay. I didn't push so hard even then and tried to conserve the tires. Nevertheless, at some point they suddenly degraded much more than we had expected," said the former Formula 1 pillot.

During the night between the first and second races, the 46-year-old's crew worked hard on the car's problems, and it was to pay off at least a little. "The changes we made before the second race were good. The car was much better to drive, especially during the first half of the race, although it was even hotter in the morning than in the first race the night before," Tiago summed up.

After moving up to tenth place in the interim, however, he again struggled with severely degrading tires in the second half of the race. "When these problems made themselves felt again, it was only a matter of time before you were overtaken again," said Tiago, who in the end had to settle for twelfth place again. At least he missed tenth place by just over two seconds after missing out on the top ten by almost seven seconds the day before. Perhaps he will make it into the top ten again in two weeks. That's when the final race weekend of the season is on the agenda in Saudi Arabia.