Rob Huff hits 100 at Brands Hatch

Rob Huff will contest his 100th race as a professional touring car driver on Sunday in the first of two FIA World Touring Car Championship races at Brands Hatch. The 28-year old driver from Cambridgeshire is currently 5th in the WTCC Drivers’ standings, after a series of good results which include victory at Valencia – his third WTCC race win of his career with Chevrolet.

Having graduated from karting, Rob made his single-seater racing debut at Silverstone in 1998, winning his first race in Junior Formula Ford. He then won the Jim Russell World Scholarship in 1999, the Formula Vauxhall Championship in 2000 (plus three podiums from four races in the 2000 Formula Palmer Audi Winter Series) and the Renault Michelin Scholarship in 2002.

Without the necessary sponsorship to continue in single-seater racing, Rob switched to saloon cars. He took the 2002 Renault Clio Cup by storm, scoring seven podiums from 13 races to finish 3rd in the series and be elected as a member of the British Racing Drivers’ Club (BRDC) Rising Star Scheme.

In 2003 Rob contested the new SEAT Cupra Championship. In a closely fought season, Rob won the title with three race wins, seven podiums and three fastest laps – and his reward was a works drive with SEAT Sport UK in the 2004 British Touring Car Championship.
Eager to learn from his team-mate, 2001 BTC Champion Jason Plato, Rob finished a pointsscoring 6th on his BTCC debut at Thruxton and went on to win two races (at Brands Hatch and Snetterton) to finish 7th in the BTCC Drivers’ standings at the end of the year.

An offer to move up into the WTCC with Chevrolet in 2005 was too good to miss. Learning the circuits, Rob finished 20th in his maiden season, with 6th the best result at Puebla in Mexico.

His first WTCC victory came at Brno in Czech Republic in 2006, as a better season saw Rob finish 16th in Championship. Every year since he has made good progress in the WTCC, winning at Anderstrop in Sweden in 2007 and finishing 9th in Championship. He has already won this season, clinching victory in Round 5 of the 2008 series at Valencia in Spain, to arrive at Brands Hatch 5th in the WTCC, after 12 of 20 races.

Having completed his 99th touring car race in 5th last time out at Estoril in Portugal, Rob would love to celebrate his 100th professional touring car race with victory – especially in front of a home crowd and at the place where he won his first race as a professional driver. But it won’t be easy, especially with 46kgs of ballast on board his Chevrolet Lacetti.

“The first of the two WTCC races will be my hundredth touring car start, so it would be a delight to celebrate that with a win, especially since Brands Hatch is also the track where I scored my very first touring car victory in 2004,” said Rob.

“Realistically, of course, it will be very difficult to win with the kilos I’m carrying, as Brands is one of those tracks where it hurts to run heavy. So if I can bag another eight or nine points it will have been a very good weekend for me. Should it rain, as it sometimes does in the UK, then it will be a bit easier for me, but also for all the other heavies, so I don’t really mind what the weather does. But obviously racing at home in front of fans and family is always special, so I’m going to put on a good show.”

BTCC wins
2004 – Round 24 at Brands Hatch and Round 27 at Snetterton. Finished 7th in Championship.

WTCC wins
2006 – Round 14 at Brno in Czech Rep. Finished 16th in Championship.
2007 – Round 13 at Anderstorp in Sweden. Finished 9th in Championship.
2008 – Round 5 Valencia in Spain. Currently 5th in Championship (after 12 of 20 races).