Tiago Monteiro has spoken of the moment when his hopes of winning the Opening Race at FIA WTCC Race of Argentina were dashed.
Lining up third on the grid for the first of two World Touring Car Championship races in Termas de Río Hondo, Monteiro was battling for the lead with Tom Chilton when it all went wrong for the ace Portuguese, a double winner in this year’s WTCC.
“I made a great start and was alongside Tom Chilton at Turn 3, but I gave him room to avoid contact and unfortunately had a big slide on the dirty part of the circuit, which cost me momentum and let quite a few drivers pass me,” Monteiro explained. “It’s a shame, but you have to try these things; sometimes they work and sometimes they don’t.”
Monteiro, part of the Castrol Honda World Touring Car Team line-up, eventually finished fourth, a result he emulated in the Main Race to maintain his hold on second place in the title standings.
“There are positives and negatives to take from this weekend,” he said. “The positives are that I’ve had two very solid fourth places and that I’m still second in the drivers’ championship with only four rounds left, and that the race pace of the car was again very good. The main negative is that from P3 on the Opening Race grid, my aim was to win, and I didn’t achieve this.”