Tiago Monteiro isn’t about to concede the 2016 FIA World Touring Car Championship to José María López despite admitting the odds are stacked against him.
Not only does Honda racer Monteiro have to overcome a 101-point deficit to his Citroën-driving rival over the next 10 races, he’s also got to take on and beat López in the Argentine’s home event next month, which López has won on four out of six attempts.
“We are going to be on his home ground so he is going to be very motivated,” said Monteiro, who won his home WTCC counter in Portugal last month. “He has a big advantage but I said I would not give up and we won’t give up. As you can see mathematically it’s still possible, of course but we need a bit of luck.”
Monteiro added: “This is a very high level competition and under pressure people can break so we will try to put this pressure on until the end of the season. With pressure he made a mistake in qualifying and everybody can make mistakes. It’s not dreaming we can fight still and we need to score some points until the end, we have still a lot of races, still a lot of points.”
WTCC Race of Argentina takes place from 5-7 August. Monteiro would become the first driver from Portugal to win an FIA circuit racing title if he were to prevail.