Monteiro open to Formula E and WEC outings in future
Tiago Monteiro says he isn't ruling out drives in Formula E and or World Endurance Championship in the future alongside his existing WTCC commitments with Honda.
Tiago Monteiro, Honda Racing Team JAS, Honda Civic WTCC
FIA WTCC
The 40-year-old is in his 10th WTCC season and says he wants to continue with Honda, which is providing him with a front-running car.
"I must say I'm quite happy and comfortable the last few months," Monteiro told Motorsport.com. "My feeling, motivation, and first wish is to stay with Honda and win the championship with them.
"WTCC, if I stay in these conditions, will be my main priority. But of course, I always like to do some other stuff, and if if it's not clashing, I would like to."
The Portuguese driver tested with Mahindra in Formula E over the summer, and revealed that he had almost made it to the starting grid in the first season of the all-electric championship.
"The Formula E proposal would be quite interesting" he said. "I almost drove the first year, but then it was too many clashes [with WTCC], three or four.
"I was very close, almost [had] a contract with Aguri, and there was another team also, there was some possibility.
"And then I manage Antonio Felix da Costa, it's been about six years now, so I've been spending a lot of time there in Formula E and talking about possibilities."
LMP1 return
Equally, Monteiro is no stranger to WEC and the Le Mans 24 Hours, having made five starts in the French endurance classic - most recently in 2015, with the ByKolles LMP1 squad - with only his crash in May's first Nurburgring WTCC race preventing him from returning to La Sarthe this year.
And the ex-Formula 1 driver says he is open to further outings in WEC alongside his WTCC commitments, expressing a belief that contesting multiple disciplines to be a good way of keeping himself sharp.
"I've done Le Mans and I had many other opportunities, which I declined, for many reasons but because I didn't wanted to clash too much [with WTCC]," he said.
"But more and more I see drivers [these days], they do different championships because it keeps you in shape.
"So, it is quite interesting and I want to do a bit more [as well]. I will look to do hopefully Le Mans again. This year it was not possible because of the crash at Nordschleife.
However, Monteiro emphasised that driving in LMP2 would not be of interest, owing to the reliance on pay drivers in the baby prototype class.
"LMP2 is a very big competition in drivers with money, so it's not a place for us," he said. "The problem with LMP2 is they have a lot of demand and a lot of drivers with budget, so they take a lot of places.
"So either you do all the WEC and then you are replaced, but to do just a one-off is not easy because there are many drivers on the market that want to do this."
Interview by Federico Faturos
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