SEPTEMBER 7, 2004

Monteiro tests for Minardi

Tiago Monteiro was out testing for Minardi at Vallelunga this week, the Portuguese driver setting a best lap of 1m03.810s, just a couple of tenths slower than the best lap achieved by regular driver Gianmaria Bruni. The test either shows Monteiro's speed or Bruni's lack of it, depending on how one wishes to analyses the results. Monteiro had never before tested at the track near Rome.

"I have no doubts he is perfectly prepared to enter the F1 circus," said Giancarlo Minardi. "He's a driver who makes no mistakes and has an amazing development capacity. Tiago improved systematically throughout the whole morning, giving good feedback to the engineers."

The Portuguese driver is currently racing in the Nissan World Series.