page_title: Tiago Monteiro
section_title: SEAT (2007–2012)
hierarchical_section_title: Tiago Monteiro / World Touring Car Championship/Cup career / SEAT (2007–2012)
caption_attribution_description: English: Tiago Monteiro (SEAT Sport) at the 2008 WTCC Brands Hatch race.
context_page_description: 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 Münnich Motorsport. He competed in Formula One between 2005 and 2006 for the Jordan Grand Prix, Midland and Spyker MF1 teams – all different iterations of the same team as it was bought by new owners during a two-year stint as part of the Formula One paddock. He is the only Portuguese driver to have scored a Formula One podium finish.
  Monteiro started racing in the World Touring Car Championship in 2007 with Seat Sport, and remained with the Spanish manufacturer until 2012, when he switched to the new Honda team late in the season. He still remains with the Japanese manufacturer in 2019, having achieved his best championship finish of third in 2016, and also helped Honda to win the manufacturers' championship in 2013. He 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. 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.
context_section_description: On 6 March 2007, it was announced that Monteiro would join the SEAT Sport team and would drive in the World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) with a SEAT León.
  He 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. However, he took three podium finishes and a pole position during a successful first season in which he was ranked 11th overall.
  In 2008 driving the TDi version of the SEAT León, he took his first win at Puebla in Mexico, and later in the season he won the second race on home ground at Estoril in Portugal. These, other points finishes and a fastest lap during the season, saw him finish 12th overall in the final standings, which was won by SEAT team-mate Yvan Muller with the team also achieving the manufacturer's title.
  He 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. On 13 January 2010, SEAT announced that it would be pulling out of the WTCC from at least the 2010 season. However, on 19 February 2010, it was announced that he would partner 2009 teammates Gabriele Tarquini and Jordi Gene along with Tom Coronel in the renamed SR-Sport team run by Sunred Engineering, which received significant funding from SEAT Sport. He achieved five podium finishes during the season, which included wins at his home event in Portimão and later in the year at Valencia. This was by far his most successful season in recent years as he finished in fifth place overall in the drivers' standings.
  On 11 February 2011, it was confirmed that he would once again drive for Sunred Engineering in the forthcoming season, partnering rookies Aleksei Dudukalo and Pepe Oriola, as well as 2010 teammates Michel Nykjaer, Fredy Barth and 2009 champion Gabriele Tarquini.
  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.
caption: Monteiro driving the SEAT León TDI at Brands Hatch in the 2008 WTCC season
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