Monteiro looking for balance

Tiago Monteiro does a little rain dance!

After a productive testing session at the circuit Paul Ricard, in the South-east of France last week, Jordan driver Tiago Monteiro has declared himself happy with the handling of his Toyota powered EJ15 for the 12th round of the 2005 Formula One world championship.

The Grand Prix of Germany will not be new to Tiago, who will blow out 29 candles on his birthday cake on Sunday, but he will need to refresh his memory, especially as it has been altered to some degree since his last visit.

"I have already run on this circuit, four years ago, but it will be difficult to find the reference marks again, in particular the braking points. Above all we must find a good balance on the car in order to negotiate the stadium section well, as this is a very technical section of the circuit and a place where you can easily lose several tenths of a second," explains Tiago.

The German GP could throw up some surprises as rain has been predicted for the race. However, this would not really displease Tiago as the Jordan driver will be able to count on Bridgestone and their knowledge of the track conditions to provide him with an adequate tyre.

"If we have good tyres they will greatly contribute to a good performance on this track. I am very motivated and ready to seize the smallest opportunity to do something big. My objective will be of course to reinforce my record of race finishes, the EJ15 has helped me very well in that department so far and it has enabled me to reinforce my record."

"Rain? It would be a good experiment, even if we have had very little experience of a wet track," smiles Tiago when he realized there was 60% chance of rain for this weekend's race. "However, I know I can rely on Bridgestone and their expertise to provide us with excellent rain tyres."

-dca-