FIA INTERNATIONAL FORMULA 3000
ROUND 9 QUALIFYING - HOCKENHEIM, GERMANY

26th July 2002

Tiago Monteiro had a very good qualifying session today, learning the track quickly and getting up to sixth with only two minutes of the session remaining. His times improved further on his final three laps but unfortunately it did not improve his position and he finished the session seventh quickest. Tiago did not manage to improve on his first session time either so he fell to ninth by the end of the second session. However he is hoping to improve at the start and get his first points of the season tomorrow.

Tiago Monteiro 1:28.819 (P9): "I am happy with everything today and I am getting more and more confident. I was seventh in the first qualifying session, which is quite good, and we had quite a good grip and balance on new tyres. In the second qualifying session we decided to work a bit on the car before using the new tyres and I think we improved the car but the track conditions were changing all the time. Maybe the changes we made didn't work very well for this kind of track because on the last set of tyres I had no grip and was two tenths off from my best lap which was a bit disappointing, but overall a good result and I am in the top ten again. We worked well today, the team were very efficient in qualifying and I had all the data I needed."

Team Manager - David Sears:"Tiago Monteiro continued his recent improvement in qualifying and looked set to be in seventh place on the grid until the last couple of laps when he got bumped down to ninth but still he is in the top ten which is impressive in his first season. If Tiago can make a good start this weekend then he has a chance to gain his first points of the season.After the race tomorrow, the team will undertake its last test of the season at Spa on the 6th and 7th August."

Praça João Martinho de Freitas, lote 22 A – 2750-388 Cascais Tel. 21 484 84 00   Fax. 21 486 39 81   Email. dca@dcanews.com