Monteiro fears weekend will be tough
SUNRED Engineering's Tiago Monteiro fears his first World Touring Car Championship weekend with SEAT's new turbo engine will not be an easy one, following a problematic practice session at Brno
Monteiro, who will run the new petrol 1.6-litre turbo engine for the first time following its debut appearance at the Hungaroring in several of the sister SUNRED cars, finished the opening practice session last after failing to complete even one flying lap due to mechanical issues.
The Portuguese driver agreed that issues in the first free practice session did not bode well for a strong qualifying session.
"That's the least we can say," Monteiro said. "There were some misfires, and we hope it's electronic glitches. My mechanics are working on [them] and getting information from the other [SUNRED] cars and trying to replicate that. Hopefully the second session will be better otherwise it's going to be very tricky for the rest of the weekend.
"To be honest, at the moment I don't even know if we can run. We haven't done a lap, so I don't how the car is. I don't how anything is. So I don't know how far [towards] the front we can be.
"Once the car runs, we'll worry about qualifying. To be honest, we knew that the top 10 would be hard to reach but it's not going to be easy."
The former Formula 1 driver explained that in its efforts to close the gap to the thus far dominant Chevrolets, SUNRED Engineering had anticipated early problems with SEAT's new powerplant.
"We know there's always some risks when you start a new engine," said Monteiro. "The engine was not shaken down and I haven't tested the car. You always hope things are going to be alright but, yeah, there's always a risk and we knew that. We just hope we can find the solution quickly."
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