Photo: WTCC Media

Rob Huff sure Lada will feature at the Nürburgring

Rob Huff has been the only Lada driver to go out in the TC1 Vesta. The former World Champion has just done a few laps without pushing too much, as he went out in James Thompson’s race car. The team has built a new Vesta for him and repaired Mikhail Kozlovskiy’s after the shunt suffered in Marrakech.

“We’re just taking it steady, there is no point in pushing. I am driving James’ car, with his race engine on, so we are very careful, as we have the Hungaroring race this weekend,” said Huff. “It is very interesting because driving a touring car around this track is pretty unusual, so it’s all about getting to grips with the car and finding which kind of setup suits this track.”

The elevation changes and the grip levels push the teams to go with a softer setup:”Normally a touring car is very nervous, it’s front-wheel driven, so you want to have a very heavy load at the front and a light rear, and the car is generally stiff. On this track it is not possible, so it needs a few changes to work correctly, and that’s what we are trying to assess.”

Huff also pointed out that, due to the World Touring Car Championship regulations, the 1 hour practice session, as well as the 1 hour qualifying, may cause a few issues:”Whoever thought of these regulations probably forgot that we cannot refuel during the sessions. That means that our cars can only do about four laps on this track, so we will be forced to sit in the garage for most of it. Qualifying-wise, it is going to be difficult and risky, because if you get a red flag then you may well not set a valid lap time, and that could cause a few issues.”

The former World Champion went on to discuss the overtaking chances on the track:”That is going to be interesting as well, because José María López came up behind me and, despite being about 20 seconds faster than me, he could not overtake. We will see that better in race conditions, though.”

Despite these issues, Huff is eager to get behind the wheel for the event:”I can’t wait, it’s going to be very interesting. Of course it’s not been done before, so a few things need to be corrected, but the track is thrilling and I’m really looking forward to this event.”

The Lada driver also praised the team for their efforts in getting the car ready for the Hungaroring:”The guys did an amazing job, it took them three days to build me a new car. This shows how the Vesta is a huge step forward compared to the Granta, we could never have done this last year. This car is much more up to date and it is relatively easy to build a new one. Of course the Vesta is a new car, so we are learning every time the wheel turns. We have a few issues to correct, but I think the car has a great potential.”

Speaking of which, Huff is convinced Lada can mount a serious challenge to the front-running cars:”In Argentina we went P1 in Q1, before a spark plug issue put us out of Q2, so that shows the speed is there. Even with the Vesta, we won in China and in Macau, where it holds the lap record, so I think that there was genuine speed, despite it being not a top car. If we did it with the Granta, I’m more than sure we can do it with the Vesta!”

Huff scored a point in Race 1 in Morocco and currently sits 16th in the championship.