Monteiro tops final Mexico practice

The SEAT Leon TDI driver pipped fellow ex-F1 podium finisher Nicola Larini's Chevrolet to top spot by just one hundredth of a second at the 3.2 kilometre track, and is a strong contender for pole after finishing in the top four in all three practice sessions.

"We have been very strong in every session so of course I have a good chance of pole," Monteiro told autosport.com. "But here, more than anywhere, you need to have the perfect lap. It is so easy to make mistakes and they cost so much. Usually you just go out and attack like crazy but not here.

"This is one of the trickiest weekends I have had in my whole career. Whatever changes you make to the car it just doesn't react because there is just no grip. With the diesel car carrying so much weight, it is a nightmare in the slow corners, although it is very good in the faster ones.

"The difficult thing is to do whole lap without mistakes. It's so easy to overdrive - so qualifying is going to be a big challenge for all of us, especially with the difference new tyres will make."

With Larini second, and team-mates Rob Huff and Alain Menu both in the top ten in sixth and ninth respectively, Chevrolet continued its strong showing.

But despite the pace of the Lacettis, it was the SEATs which had the best of the session, with Rickard Rydell and Jordi Gene third and fifth, sandwiching the SUNRED-run petrol-powered Leon of Tom Coronel. The heavily-ballasted Leons of Gabriele Tarquini and Yvan Muller were down in eighth and 10th.

The BMWs continued to struggle, with triple world champion Andy Priaulx the best of them in 11th ahead of Brazilian Augusto Farfus.

Only four factory BMWs appeared in the session because of Alex Zanardi's crash in free practice 1. The ROAL Engineering team is expected to get his car out for qualifying.

Pos  Driver                Car                Time
 1.  Tiago Monteiro        SEAT Leon TDI      1:41.977
 2.  Nicola Larini         Chevrolet Lacetti  1:41.987  + 0.010
 3.  Rickard Rydell        SEAT Leon TDI      1:42.149  + 0.172
 4.  Tom Coronel           SEAT Leon          1:42.318  + 0.341
 5.  Jordi Gene            SEAT Leon TDI      1:42.366  + 0.389
 6.  Robert Huff           Chevrolet Lacetti  1:42.573  + 0.596
 7.  Jorg Muller           BMW 320si          1:42.686  + 0.709
 8.  Gabriele Tarquini     SEAT Leon TDI      1:42.736  + 0.759
 9.  Alain Menu            Chevrolet Lacetti  1:42.737  + 0.760
10.  Yvan Muller           SEAT Leon TDI      1:42.845  + 0.868
11.  Andy Priaulx          BMW 320si          1:42.890  + 0.913
12.  Augusto Farfus        BMW 320si          1:42.976  + 0.999
13.  Sergio Hernandez      BMW 320si          1:43.483  + 1.506
14.  Felix Porteiro        BMW 320si          1:43.514  + 1.537
15.  Pierre-Yves Corthals  SEAT Leon          1:43.650  + 1.673
16.  Stefano D'Aste        BMW 320si          1:44.321  + 2.344
17.  Franz Engstler        BMW 320si          1:44.402  + 2.425
18.  Olivier Tielemans     BMW 320si          1:44.541  + 2.564
19.  Andrey Romanov        BMW 320si          1:46.251  + 4.274
20.  Ibrahim Okyay         BMW 320si          1:47.903  + 5.926