source: dcanews.com
You could hardly have guessed that Tiago Monteiro would be one of the stars of the St. Pertersburg Grand Prix; in making his début in the Champ Car World Series with the Fittipaldi Dingman team he surpassed his objectives by finishing the 105 lap race in seventh place, after having led the race, collecting six precious points
Even more important than a place in the Top Ten, which the team believed was possible, was the fact that Tiago Monteiro was one of the three drivers who led the race. Tiago surprised everyone when he took the lead at the 30th lap, after a superb tactical manoeuvre by Emerson Fittipaldi, who called the first refuelling early, taking advantage of a yellow flag situation.
Tiago Monteiro managed to get the better of very experienced drivers, and although he did not show his potential in the timed test laps due to circumstances which prevented him from having a "clean" lap, his fast adaptation to the new car was essential. When he took the lead, he did not give into the strong pressure applied by Paul Tracy (192 races) and Patrick Carpentier (109 races in the Cart) who followed him and who only managed to overtake him when Tiago widened his trajectory at the end of the straight. With seventh place at the end and the second best amongst the Rookies, he surpassed all expectations.
"I was surprised when Emerson Fittipaldi told me to come into the boxes so soon, but it's a fact that it was an excellent strategy to take advantage of the yellow flags to make a Pit-stop before everyone else. When I took the lead, I didn't want to think about it. I was concentrating on not making a mistake, fighting to keep the pace for as many laps as possible, but Tracy and Carpentier were very close. We were going at a fast pace and just when I broke late Tracy and Carpentier made the most of the situation. I returned to third place where I remained for quite some time", said Emerson Fittipaldi's protégé.