13/06/2005
NEWS STORY
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Tiago Monteiro continued his amazing reliability run this season when he took the chequered flag at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on Sunday afternoon in tenth place. The Jordan driver is one of only two drivers to have finished every race this season, the other being Felipe Massa.
Up until yesterday, Fernando Alonso was the only other member of the 2005 100% Club, however, the Spaniard's failure to finish in Montreal leaves the Portuguese and Brazilian drivers as the only two to see the chequered flag in each race.
By avoiding the multiple incidents at the resurfaced circuit, Tiago gave the Silverstone based squad its best result of the season to date. After such a difficult qualifying session, Tiago is thrilled with the final outcome…
"I cannot hide my satisfaction, to have achieved the objectives of the team once again by bringing the car home in one piece," Tiago smiled. "The 10 last laps in particular were rather hard though, my seat was completely readjusted earlier in the weekend and I was not perfectly fitted in the cockpit. I had pains in the shoulder throughout the race, so much so that I lost the sensitivity in my left hand! This is a handicap that is made all the more difficult to manage on a circuit where it is necessary to change direction in the many chicanes.
"In regard to the race itself, I got a good start, but I could not pick up any positions. The car was well balanced until the first pit stop, but things were harder after that and I started to see my advantage on Narain melting away. The tyres cooled right down during the safety car period and drops of rain were falling in certain areas around the circuits, which complicated things even more. This saw my performance decrease significantly. The race was not easy but I am content with my finish and I am eager to get going at Indianapolis next weekend."