Tiago Monteiro has said he experienced “huge satisfaction” in the Le Mans 24 Hour Race last weekend, despite the Portuguese driver and his team having to overcome numerous issues.
Monteiro was competing for ByKolles Racing in the LMP1 class along with team-mates Simon Trummer and Pierre Kaffer. The trio completed 260 laps in their CLM P1/01 car, but were later excluded from the results for not having the correct driver weight ballast. The team were not classified in the results beforehand, as they failed to complete 70 % of the winner’s distance, despite still running at the finish.
Monteiro admits that despite the problems, he got huge satisfaction out of competing in the event for the fifth time in his career.
“Despite all the problems the team never gave up and the drivers kept fighting,” said Monteiro. “The team was always able to find a solution to any gremlin we had and was giving all their drivers some leeway to continue and give their best out on the track. That was exactly what I did and in the end we got to taste the podium, third place in our category. After all what happened it turned out to be a huge satisfaction.”
Before their exclusion, the ByKolles team were third in their class, which featured LMP1 cars racing without the hybrid systems of the factory teams.
“It is always a unique experience to race with these very specific characteristics,” added Monteiro. “I enjoyed myself a lot and every time I was in the car it felt better and I was getting better usage of the car. I have to thank Colin Kolles for his invitation and for this opportunity.”
Monteiro will return to track action this weekend in the World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) in Slovakia, heading to the circuit buoyed by his first win in two years in the previous race, which was just two weeks’ ago in Russia.