Macau (MNA) – Portuguese driver Tiago Monteiro said he is confident he can compete again in the Guia race at the Macau Grand prix in 2019, with health concerns not allowing him to take part again in this year’s Macau leg of the FIA WTCR Race.
Monteiro won the Macau leg of the 2016 TCR International Series but this year again failed to take part in the now Suncity Group Macau Guia Race – FIA WTCR Race, as a precaution after a testing crash at Barcelona in 2017.
The driver is now assisting fellow Honda driver, Chinese racer Ma Qing Hua, with Monteiro telling Macau News Agency (MNA) that, technically, he could have taken part in this year’s WTCR leg.
“Luckily I had the green light from the doctors to come back to the [World Touring Car Cup round at Suzuka] but that I could not do any city track. I almost took part in the Ningbo circuit, did not take part in the Wuhan street circuit, did Suzuka, but could not do Macau for security reasons. It is unnecessary to take so many risks,” he said today.
The driver said he had not raced in competition for almost 14 months but that the accident had not caused serious health damages, with the driver now seeing himself in the strange of being in Macau but seeing the race from the outside
“I followed the team for a while but this is different. I know I can already race and Macau is very special, it’s a bit frustrating knowing I can’t race, but now I can help the drivers and the team,” he said.
Therefore Monteiro can now share his experience in the circuit with Ma and other Honda fellow driver Esteban Guerrieri.
“There’s many tricks in this track, it’s a city track different from all others, it’s very slippery, irregular, it has blind spots and areas where you need to be very cautious and brake later, sometimes you need to break earlier due to bumps,” he added
“The car also needs to be tuned in a different way from other tracks, sometimes mechanics don’t like to do it because they think it doesn’t make sense but knowing the track I know it’s better to have a lighter car. It might not be as effective but it allows us to be faster in slippery and irregular conditions”.
Although British driver Rob Huff seems poised to gate his 10th race, having topped all the qualifying races in the Grand Prix so far, Monteiro believes if Guerrieri – who managed a 2nd place in the third qualifying session – has a good start he can challenge the perennial favorite.
The Suncity Group Macau Guia Race – FIA WTCR Race 1 – 8 laps will take place at 2:25 pm.
