Rob Huff delighted with reversed grid pole in Argentina

The Lada Granta 1.6T of Rob Huff will start on point in race two tomorrow after the 2012 champion managed to qualify in tenth position, the best showing for the TC1-specification car this season.

The Ladas looked stronger than previously seen throughout the year during the practice sessions, and all three of the Lada drivers seemed to have a shot at sneaking into the second part of qualifying, now that they were genuinely closer to at least the tail end Chevrolet Cruzes on pace.

It was Huff that managed to sneak through into the top 12, demoting team-mate James Thompson to 13th, where the four-time race winner will start for both races, but Thompson was not too downbeat, with the team having worked hard during the break to repair a handling problem with the Yorkshireman’s race car at their Magny-Cours base, and flying the car out to Termas de Río Hondo for this weekend.

“The car has really been great and I’ve enjoyed driving it very much this weekend,” said Thompson. “It’s a shame we didn’t make it into the second round of qualifying. I didn’t quite get the lap I needed but the Lada Granta was responding well and, with a bit more time, we would have been able to perfect the car.”

With Huff through into Q2, he was able to pull out a one-lap flyer on old tyres to outpace the Chevrolets of Tom Coronel and René Münnich to go tenth, securing the all-important reversed grid pole position, viewed as the next best result for any car which doesn’t have true top five qualifying pace.

“I’m delighted for the guys because all the hard work they have put in has given us some reward,” said Huff. “We know we are not the quickest yet, but we are going in the right direction and I can’t wait to pull my Lada Granta Sport onto the front row of the grid tomorrow!”