Rob Huff disappointed with fourth on the grid

Rob Huff drops behind Yvan Muller by two points in the standings after qualifying, and will be separated by a BMW to his two Chevrolet team-mates going into the first race tomorrow at Shanghai.

The Briton, who is fighting for his first WTCC drivers’ title, didn’t get a good run in with only one flying lap possible in Q2, despite being fastest of all in Q1. Huff’s time was 0.199 seconds down on team-mate Menu’s, and Norbert Michelisz was able to set an even better time in the Zengõ Motorsport BMW 320 TC to go third fastest.

“It wasn’t a very good qualifying run for me and I must admit I’m not very happy about it,” said Huff. “We will continue working to improve the set up and I hope we’ll be in a better position tomorrow than we were today.”

With the top ten reversed for race two however, that one car gap will serve as a buffer to his Chevrolet team-mates, with Huff lining up seventh on the grid for the standing start, though that will favour the rear-wheel drive BMW of Michelisz alongside him.

“The objective is to get off to a good start in Race 1 and gain as many positions as possible,
and then to use the relatively favourable position on the grid of Race 2,” said Huff.

Alain Menu on the other hand was delighted with his fourth pole of the year, which puts him one ahead of Yvan Muller’s tally of the year so far. The Swiss-driver is now just 37 points behind Yvan Muller in the standings, with 50 points available in tomorrow’s races alone.

“I’m obviously very happy with my third consecutive pole,” said Menu. “Today, the battle
with Yvan was very close and the difference minimal. In truth, I made a few small mistakes
on my fast lap.”

“The car was simply perfect. We’ve once again proved that the Cruze is extremely competitive in all conditions. We will see what happens tomorrow, but I can’t ask for more from today.”