Three years after winning the Vila Real circuit for the last time, James Monteiro returned to the highest place on the podium this Sunday, winning the third race of the Portuguese round of the WTCR.
The Portuguese driver took advantage of starting from second place on the starting grid for the third race to take the lead right from the start of the race (ahead of him was only Atilla Tassi, his teammate).
On the fourth lap, and already after entering the safety-car track, Tiago Monteiro managed to overtake his colleague and no longer lost the lead in the race held in Vila Real, resisting Yvan Muller's “attacks” and keeping the Lynk driver & Company some distance to the end.
This was the sixth victory achieved by a Civic Type R WTCR this season, the first for Tiago Monteiro since the accident in 2017 (not counting the victory of the Nürburgring 24 Hours) and the first since the WTCC became the WTCR.
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At the end of the race, Tiago Monteiro stated “It was a dream until a few hours ago that it came true. All the work of the last two years has come in this direction. I wanted not only to come back, but to come back strong in Vila Real. Considering the other results, nothing was guaranteed” dedicating the victory to the mechanic from Lynk & Co, who died at dawn.