Tiago Monteiro

Unlike a majority of his seniors, Portugal8217;s Tiago Monteiro made a late start in motorsport, not till he was 20. Most of his racing career has been spent in France, including driving a lengthy stint in the French F3 and GT racing and likewise entering the strenuous Le Mans in 1999.

In 2002 he graduated to F3000 with the crack Super Nova squad, but was comprehensively overshadowed by title-winning team-mate Sebastien Bourdais.

Having played second-fiddle, Monteiro crossed the Atlantic and spent a year in Champ Cars, where again unfortunately he got himself tangled in all sort of problems. He overcame teething problems and improved in the latter half of the season, thanks to former world champion Emerson Fittipaldi.