Tiago Monteiro rues ‘stupid’ mechanical failure in Estoril Race 2

Tiago Monteiro maintains that he can still be a major player in the World Touring Car Cup title race this season despite missing out on a near-certain win in Race 2 at Estoril following a “stupid” mechanical failure.

The Münnich Motorsport Honda driver held a commanding lead in the second race of the weekend and looked set to increase his lead in the points standings before his bonnet came loose on the main straight.

He was shown the black and orange flag and needed to pit as a result to fix the problem, which eventually relegated him to 18th by the end of the race.

Monteiro’s team-mate Attila Tassi won the race and moved into second in the points standings himself, but for the former, it was a case of a missed opportunity after a strong weekend on home soil.

“Firstly, I am really happy for Attila,” Monteiro said in the post-race press conference.

“Every time we speak about being on the podium together, something happens.

“But I would have preferred things to have gone in a different way, having had a good start, I was aiming for a good first lap but Esteban made my life easier with his issue at the start.”

Having made the most of a poor start from his Honda stablemate Guerrieri from pole position, Monteiro began to pull away from Tassi after the safety car restart.

Before long, Monteiro was hamstrung and ceded his place at the top to his Hungarian team-mate. He stayed out a lap later before coming into the pits to fix his loose bonnet.

Although Monteiro shipped a bag of points in Race 2, the Portuguese driver is still hopeful the tide will change back in his favour as the season progresses.

“Then everything was going, too well I guess,” Monetiro explained.

“But the good thing is that the championship is long and we have a strong package, a good car of course. The Balance of Performance will start to come into play but it was import to score all those points.

“It was a very unfortunate, stupid mechanical failure like this. It’s annoying, and almost unacceptable in a way at this level of championship, but anything can happen. You cannot blame anyone, these things can happen. So, I’m very disappointed and annoyed and frustrated but it’s not the first time [this] has happened in my career.

“I’m sure by tomorrow I will have forgotten about it and focus on the next races. Whenever we will be heavy, this is where we will important to score good points. But the season is long and until the last races, nothing is decided. But for tonight, it will be a hard one to swallow and to accept, tomorrow will be another day.”