Lack of top speed hampered Rob Huff’s chances

Honda’s Rob Huff qualified in fifth for the main race after managing to get through Q2 by a blink of an eye over Polestar Cyan Racing’s Thed Bjork. The Brit was not confident heading into Q3 due to an unknown engine problem.

“I was not very confident before Q3, because qualifying was the very first time that the car was without a vibration,” said the former World Champion to TouringCarTimes. “The guys in the team did a really good job but we are missing some top speed in my car at the moment. We thought it was down to the vibration, but it seems not. On the data it’s clear at the end of the straights I’m losing a lot to Norbi (Michelisz) and Tiago (Monteiro), so again the boys are working really hard but it’s costing me in the region of half a second per lap, which makes it all difficult. I was very happy to do Q2, and even happier to go on to the third segment, but we had a few problems in the car also in France.”

The Brit went on to explain that the gremlins he suffered from both in France and in Slovakia mean he was not able to develop the car to his own liking: “I’m on the basic setup because we didn’t have any clear free practice, which the others have had and it allowed them to tweak the car to suit them. It’s disappointing, but at the same time the boys are doing everything they can to find the problem. It’s very difficult because on the data it says the engine is alright, the chassis has no problem, but yet we are losing up to 4 km/h at the end of each straight, so something strange is happening and we need to try and find exactly what.”

As for tomorrow’s races Huff is cautiously confident, although he is aware that being in the middle of the pack will not make things easier for him: “It’s a difficult position to be in, because I am fifth and sixth on the grid. For me the name of the game will be to score points, we are in a good position in the championship and personally I want to stay there, if not improve it. I think it’s possible to improve tomorrow, and that’s what I want to do.”

Despite Citroën carrying 80 kilos of ballast, Huff believes it will still be very difficult to overtake the French cars: “Here (at Slovakiaring) it’s very difficult to overtake and an easy circuit to defend on, but the Citroëns were quick today and they will be tomorrow. They were just two tenths quicker last year, and I had qualified fourth, so I believed I could have attacked them with a 60-kilos difference in ballast, but at the end of the day they were one second per lap quicker than I was, and they just disappeared. I hope we can keep them more in touch with 80 kilos of ballast, but we’ll have to see.”

The Brit is now second in the championship, equal on points with Honda team-mate Tiago Monteiro, after scooping up a point for fifth in qualifying earlier today.