Rob Huff excited ahead of TCR International Series return

Rob Huff will return to the TCR International Series after his one-off appearance in 2015 at the Macau Guia Race. The Brit will switch to a WRT Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR in a bid to help team-mate Jean-Karl Vernay in his chase for his maiden TCR title.

Huff has already raced in Spa-Francorchamps with the Golf two weeks ago, sharing the car with team-mate Jean-Karl Vernay. Although he does feel there’s a lot of difference between the TC1 cars he is used to and the TCR-spec cars, he does enjoy driving the Golf.

“The Volkswagen is a good car, especially in the corners”, said the WRT driver. “I think everybody knows it’s not the fastest in the straight due to the shape of the car. TCR Benelux was a good test, although there are surely some things to improve on the car. It is completely different from WTCC cars, these cars are 10 seconds per lap slower, mostly due to the difference in power. The racing is good, it is close, and the championship is very appealing. The Balance of Performance needs some adjusting for sure, but I think it will even itself out by the end of the year. I’m very happy to have had the opportunity to represent Leopard, it is going to be exciting.”

During his debut in TCR at the Guia Circuit in Macau Huff was dominant, but the Brit does not expect to repeat the feat at Spa. Besides his famous love for the track in the former Portuguese colony, the WRT driver believes Spa-Francorchamps is not the kind of track where one should expect strong performances from the Golf GTI TCR, whereas he expects to be in a much better shape at twistier tracks.

“Macau is a little bit different, it’s surely special for me, having won there eight times”, admitted the Brit. “There’s something I do in Macau which is a little bit magic and helps me, but here in Spa-Francorchamps it’s one of the worst tracks for the Golf, and I know next week in Monza will be the worst. After that we will have some more handling-orientated tracks, and that is when the car will really get into its element and hopefully I can use my experience from fifteen years of front wheel drive to help improve the car. We know Alfa Romeo, Audi and Honda will be very strong, hopefully I will be able to collect points for the team and help the team move forward.”

Speaking of the team, Huff will do his best to help the team and team-mate Jean-Karl Vernay, who is leading the championship. Although he is surely going to try to win if he is in a position to do so, Huff admitted that if he is asked to let the Frenchman through he will not refuse.

“Ultimately the goal is to help Jean-Karl (Vernay), who is leading the championship”, said the WRT driver. “It’s impressive that he leads it, because he didn’t win races so far, but he had four good results, which is what it takes to win championships. If I’m in a position to win then I will, but the first thing about being a professional driver is racing for the team, not necessarily for yourself. I have been at Chevrolet and Honda, where I was working with my team-mates, so ultimately I do what I’m told and the idea is that the team has to win the championship. I hope to be here for a while, it’s still early in the season and I’m here to do the best possible job.”

As Huff stated he wanted to be in TCR for a while, the Brit did not deny TCR could be a good path for the future: “I never say no to anything, ultimately racing it’s my job and of course to get the opportunity to represent Volkswagen, Leopard and WRT in the International Series is something that as a driver you don’t say no to. At the end of the day motorsport is in a very complicated situation at the moment, it’s not just us, it’s also World Endurance Championship and Formula One, nobody has a strong direction at the moment. I do my GTs, I do my historics and every door is an open door.”