First Portuguese driver in Formula Champ Car
source: www.dcanews.com
The first of the 19 races in the Bridgestone Presents The Champ Car World Series Powered By Ford Championship, which will take place next weekend in the city of S. Petersburg (Florida-USA), will be the stage of Tiago Monteiro's debut at the wheel of the only car in the team recently formed by Emerson Fittipaldi and James Dingman. It will also be the start of the most difficult season in the still short career of the Porto driver, who has represented Portugal in numerous racetracks around the world with great dignity.
Tiago Monteiro is aware that he will have quite a tough start to the year, but his recognised professionalism and total dedication, together with the fact that he finds it easy to adapt to new challenges as we have seen throughout his career, are important aspects for overcoming his lack of practical knowledge of these new races. Tiago Monteiro will officially begin next weekend: "Just one day of tests next (Tuesday the 18) in Road-Atlanta will not be enough for me to adapt to the car, which will need the "Shake down" to make sure everything is working correctly. I know that the race will not be easy, and therefore we should be very happy if we can finish. The first race will be a live test!"
The Champ Car Championship (previously called Indy or CART) is at the top of motor racing and has a philosophy which brings out the drivers' talent through very balanced technical regulations as opposed to the F.1 where there are enormous differences between the teams: "I have great expectations for this new stage in my career, which in spite of knowing that it will be quite complicated given the fact that I will not have many training sessions before the first race, it will, on the other hand, be helped by Emerson Fittipaldi's valuable experience. I expect to get over the worst difficulties in as short a time as possible, and I hope to tell Emerson exactly what my doubts are both regarding technical aspects and about the driving. We are going to S.Petersburg looking on the race as a session of development tests. We know what to expect so for now we are putting our ambitions on hold." Said Tiago Monteiro that, in the short period of two months he was invited to drive Renault's F.1 as a candidate for being a test driver for the large French automobile manufacturer, and now to sign a contract with the Twice World Champion in the Formula 1 and Formula Cart, Emerson Fittipaldi.