Tiago Monteiro qualifies 5th and 6th at Suzuka

Tiago Monteiro will start from the top 6 of both starting grids for this weekend's penultimate round of the 2013 World Touring Car Championship, WTCC, taking place at the Suzuka Circuit in Japan.

After setting the fastest time in the second free practice session, Tiago Monteiro was hoping to benefit from JAS Motorsport Honda's hard work and was eager to display his advantage in qualifying here on the Suzuka circuit this afternoon. Unfortunately, he was unable to show the cars full potential after being slowed by a yellow flag during his fastest lap in the second phase of qualifying. The Honda Civic # 18 driver will therefore start from 6th and 5th places respectively for the two Japanese events.

Here on Honda's home ground, Tiago is hoping to continue his momentum from recent weeks. "This is a good result, but with a little more luck, we could have been aiming for pole position. In the first qualifying session, we were mainly focusing on qualifying for the second. My first lap was not perfect and on the second I was slowed by yellow flags when Tarquini went off track. I had to slow down and abandon all hope of pole position. It's frustrating, but that's racing," said Monteiro .

With overtaking being difficult on the Suzuka circuit, Tiago knows that it won't be an easy task to climb up the pecking order; however he plans to give it all he's got to ensure the best possible result in both races. "Starting 5th and 6th, I am away from the podium, but it will not be out of my reach entirely and I will go for broke! After all our hard work, I know the performance of our car and I know I can have two great races. A good result would be well deserved for the team, for Honda and also for the public".

The Suzuka races will be broadcasted by Eurosport on Sunday, September 22nd at 6:15 and 7:30 ET.

Tiago Monteiro