Tiago Monteiro: “This shows the progress we’ve made”

Tiago Monteiro secured pole position for the first round of the World Touring Car Championship in Morocco for Honda, taking pole ahead of Volvo’s Néstor Girolami, and the Portuguese driver points to the progress Honda have made over the winter.

Honda dominated at Marrakech last year, though their results don’t appear in the record books after they were excluded for irregularities with their flat floor, and the Japanese marque proved their results were no fluke, qualifying first and third for the main race.

“I always feel confident on street tracks,” said Monteiro to TouringCarTimes.

“It’s the best way to start the championship for sure; it shows also the progress we’ve made. On a street track it’s also very important to be at the front. I was nearly on pole here last year but a small mistake caused me to be third.

In the one-lap shootout, Néstor Girolami emerged as the 40-year-old’s main threat for pole, with the Polestar driver outqualifying Norbert Michelisz and putting the Volvo S60 TC1 on the front row alongside Monteiro.

“I knew I’d done a better lap (than Girolami’s) before in Q2, but I began to think maybe the track was getting slower because of the temperature,” said Monteiro. “But after taking it a little bit easier in the first two corners I felt the grip was there and then pushed harder.”

With points handed out for qualifying, Monteiro now officially leads the championship by one point over Girolami, while he’ll start from pole for the main race on Sunday where a higher and revised 30 points are up for grabs.

“I started strongly last year as well. After two weekends I was leading the championship, so I just hope I’ll lead for longer this time,” he added. “Qualifying points are important as they might make all the difference, but the big points are tomorrow so this is where we need to keep our heads down and do an intelligent job.”