39 Facts About Tiago Monteiro

Tiago Vagaroso da Costa Monteiro is a Portuguese professional racing driver currently competing in the World Touring Car Cup, driving a Honda Civic TCR for Engstler Motorsport.

Tiago Monteiro is the only Portuguese driver to have scored a Formula One podium finish, during the controversial 2005 United States Grand Prix.

Tiago Monteiro still remains with the Japanese manufacturer in 2019, having achieved his best championship finish of third in 2016, and helped Honda to win the manufacturers' championship in 2013.

Tiago Monteiro was leading the drivers' championship after 12 races in 2017, but injuries sustained in a crash in testing forced him to withdraw from the rest of the season.

Tiago Monteiro is a 12-time World Touring Car race winner and achieved the eighth most wins in the WTCC, until it became the World Touring Car Cup in 2018.

Tiago Monteiro took five wins and five pole positions to become B-class champion and rookie of the year.

Tiago Monteiro continued in the championship in 1999, taking one win and three other podium positions to finish sixth overall.

Tiago Monteiro competed in the Le Mans 24 Hours race, finishing 17th overall and sixth in the GT2 class.

In 2000, Tiago Monteiro again competed in French F3, this time finishing second in the championship after taking four wins throughout the season.

Tiago Monteiro competed in the single Formula 3 European Championship double-header race, finishing second overall with one win at Spa-Francorchamps.

Tiago Monteiro competed in a couple of one-off events, coming second in the Korea Super Prix and ninth at the famous Macau Grand Prix.

In 2001, Tiago Monteiro again finished second overall in the French F3 Championship after taking six pole positions, four wins and four podiums.

Tiago Monteiro completed the Renault F1 Driver Development Scheme, and had his first taste of a Formula One car, testing with the Renault team at Barcelona.

Tiago Monteiro finished the year with 10 top-ten finishes, scoring 29 points to rank 15th overall in the championship.

Tiago Monteiro was signed up as an official Minardi F1 test driver for the 2004 season, but competed in the Nissan World Series with Carlin Motorsport.

Tiago Monteiro was named Rookie of the Year after finishing second in the championship behind Heikki Kovalainen, and was ranked fifth in Autosport magazine's top ten drivers in the Formula One "breeding ground" championships.

Tiago Monteiro stayed behind to celebrate his first podium finish alone.

Also of note, as of the Belgian Grand Prix, Tiago Monteiro had finished every race of the 2005 season, breaking the record for consecutive finishes for a rookie driver in Formula One, held by Jackie Stewart and Olivier Panis, who finished their first six races.

Shortly before the 2005 Turkish Grand Prix, Tiago Monteiro suffered a toothache that was severe enough to prevent him taking part in the race.

However, his team principal Colin Kolles, a qualified dentist, performed emergency root canal surgery and Tiago Monteiro was cleared to race.

Tiago Monteiro had briefly held discussions about a drive for Toro Rosso, but these hopes were ended when the Faenza outfit confirmed Vitantonio Liuzzi as a driver at the launch of the STR2 car on 13 February 2007, followed by Scott Speed at a Bahrain testing session on 24 February, leaving Tiago Monteiro without a drive for the season.

On 6 March 2007, it was announced that Tiago Monteiro would join the SEAT Sport team and would drive in the World Touring Car Championship with a SEAT Leon.

Tiago Monteiro was forced to wait until the second round of the 2007 season at Zandvoort to make his debut, as the contract was signed a few days before the season opener in Curitiba.

Tiago Monteiro stayed with SEAT in 2009, and scored two podiums in Valencia and Brno en route to finishing 9th overall in the drivers standings, contributing to SEAT winning the manufacturers championship.

Tiago Monteiro achieved five podium finishes during the season, which included wins at his home event in Portimao and later in the year at Valencia.

Tiago Monteiro remained with the team for 2012 under the "Tuenti Racing Team" banner, where he was joined by 2011 teammate Pepe Oriola and rookie Andrea Barlesi.

Tiago Monteiro joined the Honda Racing Team JAS team from their WTCC debut at the 2012 Race of Japan, racing the new Honda Civic.

Tiago Monteiro scored the first podium finish for the Honda Civic in the WTCC at the 2012 Guia Race of Macau, finishing third in race one.

Tiago Monteiro went on to take his first win with Honda at Shanghai.

For 2014, Tiago Monteiro scored 5 podiums and earned 1 pole position on his way to 5th in the final championship standings.

Tiago Monteiro stayed partnered with Honda and teammate Gabriele Tarquini for 2015.

In 2016, Tiago Monteiro would take wins in Slovakia and Portugal.

Tiago Monteiro took five further podiums to finish third in the championship, his best result yet.

Tiago Monteiro was greeted with a round of applause from fellow drivers as he was let out first to the track in Free Practice 1.

Tiago Monteiro was set for a full season comeback in 2019 and switch teams from Boutsen Ginion Racing to KCMG, driving the Honda Civic Type R TCR.

Tiago Monteiro became interested in team ownership during 2008, and held discussions with the BCN Competicion team in the GP2 Series on the subject of a possible buy-out.

Tiago Monteiro manages the career of fellow Portuguese racing driver Antonio Felix da Costa.

Tiago Monteiro shared a Holden VE Commodore with Tony D'Alberto, with the car being set up by the Tony D'Alberto Racing team under the Centaur Racing banner.

On 16 August 2008, Tiago Monteiro married Portuguese model Diana Pereira.