1st career puncture robs Huff of home win

Rob Huff was just over a lap away from scoring a dream win on his 100th race as a professional touring car driver on Sunday (27th July) when a puncture – the first he has ever suffered in his entire 10 year racing career – forced him into the Brands Hatch pits. He eventually finished 21st, and after starting the second of two FIA World Touring Car Championship races from that position, he fought his way back to finish 10th.

The British round of the WTCC had started well for Rob, as he qualified 3rd. With 46kgs of ballast on board his Chevrolet Lacetti, the 28-year old driver from Cambridgeshire didn’t expect to be so high up the grid, but his weight-adjusted time put him level pegging on pace with polesitter Augusto Farfus (BMW 320si) and 2nd place Alan Menu (Chevrolet Lacetti). Race 1 began with a rolling start, and on the approach to Druids for the first time Farfus and Menu tangled and Rob took full advantage of the situation by darting up the inside and coming out of the hairpin corner in the lead. He pushed hard to open up a gap on Jörg Müller and then
eased off to maintain his advantage at the head of the 25 car field. Three laps from the end Rob felt a vibration coming from the front of his car and his worst fears came true one lap later when the front left tyre deflated. With less than three miles to go, Rob was forced to come into the pits instead of starting the last lap. After a quick tyre change he rejoined the race, overtook two cars and finished 21st.

He started the second race from that position and moved up six places in the opening lap. The team had made adjustments to his Chevrolet Lacetti to help avoid a repeat of the puncture, but the car wasn’t handling so well in that configuration and Rob decided to allow a faster Farfus to overtake. From then on they carved their way through the field together, with Farfus opening up gaps and allowing Rob to follow him through. Rob made a number of fantastic moves at Paddock Hill Bend, overtaking ex-Formula 1 driver Tiago Monteiro (SEAT Leon TDI) and Farfus in one move great manoeuvre and also overtaking WTCC leader Yvan Muller (SEAT Leon TDI) with a classic move up the inside when Muller ran wide. Rob eventually finished the race in 10th place, reflecting on what could have been a dream race winning weekend and a big WTCC points score.

“Having qualified third with 46 kilos on board, I thought there was a good chance
for me to score eight or ten World Championship points; I didn’t much care how they came, but I thought I was in for a good points scoring race day,” said Rob. “I had a very good start in race one and tucked in behind Alain straight away. Then he and Farfus had their little thing approaching Druids which left the door wide open for me, very much like the time I won my very first touring car race at Brands Hatch in 2004 – but this time I got into the lead on the first lap, not the last lap, as happened four years ago. I had Jörg Müller behind me in his BMW, but I’d been quicker than him all weekend, so I knew that if I pushed hard for a few laps I could open up a gap and then just maintain it for the rest of the race. And that’s exactly what I did. After four laps I was two seconds ahead, so I backed off and from then on Jörg and I lapped a few thousandths of a second apart.

“It was looking like the dream win on my hundredth touring car start was on the cards when, three laps from the end, I felt a vibration come from the front of the car. I eased off some more to keep off the kerbs and try and get the car home without the problem developing, but braking for a corner around the back of the Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit on the next lap the front left tyre popped off the rim and my dreams were shattered.

“If you’re a racing driver you have to expect the odd puncture now and again, and I’ve been very lucky to have never picked up a puncture before in my entire career. It had to happen when I was just five kilometres away from winning my hundredth touring car race, but I guess these things happen.

“I pretty much started crying there and then, because I knew my race weekend was over. I wasn’t going to win at Brands Hatch and I wasn’t going to score any World Championship points.

“The team did a great job in the pits to quickly change the front tyres and I even managed to pass a few cars on the last lap to finish twenty-first. It was a bit soul-destroying.

“I had a good second race and past six cars on the opening lap. We’d changed the set-up on my car a little so it wouldn’t be so hard on the front tyres, and it didn’t handle as well as it had in the first race. Farfus was right behind me and very fast, so I let him overtake me and together we carved our way through the field. I think he appreciated me not holding him up, so in return he kept the door open a few times to let me follow him through during some good overtaking manoeuvres.

“Taking the positives out of the weekend, we’ll lose ten kilos for Oschersleben – so I’ll be in one of the lightest front-wheel drive cars on a circuit where we were fastest at in testing. I’ll just have to put Brands Hatch down as character building and try to win next time out in Germany.”