In a professional racing career that spanned over 30 years before his retirement at the age of 59 in 2021, Gabriele Tarquini has worked with more team-mates than he would care to mention. “I drove with a lot of fantastic drivers, challenging and very strong opponents also in my team and it’s always very difficult to choose one,” he tells Autosport.
The great and good of touring car racing have driven with the Italian across stints with Alfa Romeo, Honda, SEAT and Hyundai. Among the stellar names are multiple champions in domestic, European and global competitions including James Thompson, Tom Kristensen, Fabrizio Giovanardi, Augusto Farfus, Yvan Muller, Rickard Rydell and Norbert Michelisz.
But having raced together as team-mates in all but one of nine consecutive World Touring Car Championship seasons between 2007 and 2015, Tarquini’s choice of Tiago Monteiro as his favourite should come as little surprise. Across stints at SEAT (both as a factory team and with privateers) and Honda, with Tarquini recommending Monteiro to the Japanese manufacturer for its 2012 entry to the WTCC, the two developed a strong bond as they spent plenty of time together.
“I enjoyed very much to stay on track and outside the track with him,” says Tarquini. “Also he had family with small children. We spent holidays together with the family, we spent a lot of time especially in between races to share the same hotel.”
The Portuguese arrived in Tarquini’s orbit fresh from two mixed seasons in Formula 1 at the Jordan/Midland team in 2007, in amongst a five-car SEAT superteam with Tarquini, Muller, Jordi Gene and Michel Jourdain Jr. Having dabbled in touring cars as early as 1987, Tarquini had made the same switch from F1 after his Fondmetal team collapsed in 1992 and so knew the difficulty Monteiro faced in adapting to front-wheel drive. Tarquini recalls that Monteiro made a strong first impression on a personal note even if, in the car, “especially the first season he was struggling a lot”.
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“Our relationship started very well because he introduced himself not like a Formula 1 star,” he remembers. “Especially because I was in F1 before jumping in touring cars as well, so we had more or less similar experience, I can understand the problem he had jumping in touring cars. But he was growing a lot after a few races and seasons and he became a very good touring car driver.”
Source: Autosport