Barcelona best race for Monteiro

Bad luck failed to leave Tiago Monteiro's side in Barcelona, however the Portuguese driver still delivered a great race in the 5th round of the 2005 Formula One World Championship.

After a strong lap on Sunday morning, the Toyota engine in his EJ15 exploded right after the start/finish line forcing the Jordan mechanics to change it prior to the start of the race. As a result he was penalized on the starting grid and could not enjoy his 14th best time in qualifying.

"The second qualifying session did not finish well as with just four corners to go, my engine started to lose power, before exploding once I had crossed the start/finish line," Tiago explained.

As an example of his brilliance, one only has to look at the opening stint of Tiago's race. Starting the GP behind his team-mate, Narain Karthikeyan, Tiago didn't take too long to get the best of the Indian and then proceeded to set some very good lap times while watching the opposition disappear from his mirrors. The Portuguese driver finally crossed the finish line in 12th place and secured the 14th best lap time of the race, 0.7 second ahead of his teammate. In Catalunya, Tiago definitely showed what he is made of.

In front of 115,000 spectators and with the support of the representative of the Portuguese government, the State Secretary of Youth and Sports, Dr. Laurentino Dias, who personally came to encourage the Jordan Toyota driver, Tiago delivered his finest performance of the season so far, aggressive, fast and not making any mistakes on what is regarded as one of the most difficult tracks of the championship.

"I couldn't have had stronger support with the presence of Dr. Laurentino Dias and a group of cordial guests of Galp," Tiago acknowledged. "It was my best Grand Prix so far this season. I had no problems and I was able to push harder and harder throughout the race. The tyres worked very well. Bridgestone have made a big improvement and we have also made some progress on the balance of the car. I have really enjoyed this race and I would like to thank the team for the great job they did after qualifying, changing the engine so quickly."

-dca-