Vila Real hosts the Portuguese stage of the WTCC this weekend

The fifth round of the World Touring Car Championship starts tomorrow at the Vila Real International Circuit. Unlike previous editions, the action starts only on Saturday, with the first free practice of the WTCC.

One of the highlights of this race is once again the Portuguese Tiago Monteiro, a rider who defends the Honda colors. The pilot comes to this race in second place in the championship, just two points behind the Dutchman Nicky Catsburg of Volvo. After the victory in Vila Real last year, and already with victories in Morocco and Hungary this year, the home driver hopes to regain the lead in the standings:

I hope to give everyone another reason to party. However, we cannot neglect the opponent, nor leave anything to chance. We want to regain first place in the championship and that's our biggest focus regardless of everything else. After what happened last year and everything we have been doing this year, we are certainly one of the favorite teams to win and I hope that everything goes smoothly so that we can do it.

James Monteiro

This year, the Portuguese stage of the WTCC has another FIA race on track, the European Touring Car Cup (ETCC), to which the National Championship of Classic Circuits (CNCC) is added. Check the times below:

Saturday June 24th
8:30 am	ETCC - Tests
9:30 am	WTCC – Free Practice 1
10:30 am	CNCC - Free Training
11:10 am	CNCC 1300 - Free Practices
12:00	WTCC – Free Practice 2
13:00	CNCC - Qualification
1:35 pm	CNCC 1300 - Qualification
2:15 pm	ETCC - Free Practices
3:30 pm	WTCC - Qualification 1
4:05 pm	WTCC - Qualification 2
4:25 pm	WTCC - Qualification 3
4:45 pm	WTCC - MAC3
5:20 pm	CNCC - Race 1
18:00	ETCC - Qualification

Sunday June 25th
9:30 am	CNCC 1300 – Race 1
10:25 am	CNCC - Race 2
11:45 am	ETCC – Race 1 (11 laps)
13:00	ETCC – Race 2 (11 laps)
2:45 pm	CNCC 1300 – Race 2
4:30 pm	WTCC – Race 1 (11 laps)
5:45 pm	WTCC – Race 2 (13 laps)