Monteiro aims to keep race-sharp ahead of 2008 F1 comeback

Tiago Monteiro announced today that he will not take up any of the offers he has received from F1 teams for 2007 and instead aims to keep race-sharp by securing a seat in a competitive racing series with a view to returning to a full-time F1 race driver role in 2008.

Tiago is truly pleased for having had a three years long experience in F1. He's had plenty of valuable experience firstly as an official test driver for Minardi in 2004 and then as race driver for Jordan in 2005 and then again at Midland which became Spyker F1 in 2006. He ran some very competitive races and got a lot of exposure for himself and Portugal, not least his podium finish at Indianapolis in 2005 and the 'man of the race' award in Spa-Francorpchamps and his Rookie of the year nomination. He has now made the decision not to pursue in F1 for the time being preferring to see himself racing elsewhere to correspond better to his ambitions.

Along with his management (CSS-Stellar), the Portuguese Driver has carefully studied two successive offers from F1 teams over the winter, but decided against it. It is very important to keep racing with a good team in a competitive season rather than waste a year merely testing. There are set to be plenty more opportunities to come in F1 in 2008.

"The future promises to be even more exciting and I'm looking forward to getting back behind the wheel. I am very pleased by the number of offers in other competitive series where I can potentially race at the sharp end in 2007," Monteiro explained. "I'm in advanced discussions at the moment and will be able to reveal more shortly. In the meantime I'd like to thank all my fans, sponsors and friends in Portugal and all around the world for their support and patience", he concluded.

Tiago Monteiro who has extensive motor racing experience, has raced successfully in a wide variety of categories including: Porsche Carrera Cup, Formula 3 Championships, GT Championship, FIA International F3000 Championship, Champ Car World Series and World Series By Nissan while also competing in a number of significant one-off events, such as the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Macau Grand Prix, Korea Super Prix, Marlboro Masters, Andros Trophy (ice racing).