Name: Tiago Moreira
Age: 19
Location: Odvelas-Lisbon, Portugal
V-WTCC Car: Honda Accord
V-WTCC Achievement: Winner of the Honda Brand Cup Race in Valencia
 

You won a Brand Cup event. Tell us your story of the races.
I had some luck on the races, although my qualification wasn't that good, I managed to get a good start in both races. I was really nervous in the first race, and in the final lap one driver tried to overtake me in turn one, but he outbraked himself and crashed. The second race start was awesome and the overtake for first place in the 7th lap felt very good!

How did you prepare for the races?
I did some laps on the Ranking servers to qualify for the Brand Cups Races. That was pretty much my training. Then, on Saturday, I did some offline laps to setup the car for the races.

How did you become a simracer?
I started on Live For Speed about three or four years ago and I used the mouse to drive. I drove Gran Turismo before, but I don’t call that a simulation game. Then I bought an S1 license and a steering wheel and joined a Portuguese team. One year later I joined my current team: Team Racing Knowledge (TRK) and started driving more sims (simracing games – ed.). Nowadays I drive a bit of everything, but mostly rFactor (GP79 mod) and GTR2.

Are you a real racer as well?
No, my real life racing experience is only a few laps in a kart.

What are your expectations for the Semi-Finals in Valencia?
The BMW drivers are quite quick, I think I won’t make it to the next round, but we'll see.
I’d love to see Tiago Monteiro and James Thompson in Valencia. I hope that wish will come true.

Do you have any tips for new drivers?
Save your tires, respect the others and don't outbrake yourself: you may ruin your race or that of other drivers.
I surely hope I don't ruin anyone's race in Valencia.

Who will win the V-WTCC 2008?
Well, I really don't know, but if Greger Huttu enters this championship, he has strong possibilities of winning.