Rob Huff aiming to capitalise as rivals struggle with set-up in Hungary

Rob Huff starts tomorrow’s main race from pole position after setting the fastest lap of the day during his one-lap qualifying run in the shootout, and is aiming to make the most of the woes which have befallen his championship rivals, with Volvo’s Thed Björk and Honda’s Tiago Monteiro qualifying eighth and ninth.

The British driver beat Sébastien Loeb Racing’s Mehdi Bennani to pole in qualifying at the Hungaroring, securing the first pole of the season for a Citroën, with now Honda, Volvo and Citroën sharing a pole each after three races.

“I’m really pleased,” said Huff to TouringCarTimes. “I’ve never been a huge one lap person, I’m a racer, so to make a lap like that for the boys is great.

“It’s so hard though, and the worse place to be Q2 is first, as then you sit for 15 minutes, hearing the lap times come in and you go “ooh, that’s a bit quick; that’s the same as my lap in Q2 and that was really good.

“I also didn’t know if my time was good enough when I crossed the line. And after Q2, when my lap time was uploaded to the dash to give me a plus or minus difference to my best), something went wrong and plus or minus was something like 22 seconds out, so I knew immediately that had gone wrong as I hadn’t lost that much time in one sector. I think that was good, as instead I just went hell for leather.”

Lining up ninth on the grid for Race 1 (following a grid penalty for Mehdi Bennani), and first for Race 2, Huff, who’s five points for pole now moves him to fourth in the standings, is aiming to capitalise on race day.

“I had a shocking Morocco, but a really good Monza, and I need the next two or three events to be really good,” said Huff. “And I need them to have a couple of bad ones, not that I’d wish any bad luck on anyone, but I need to claw some points back. We need to climb up in Race 1 and to capitalise on the pole for Race 2.

Monza pole position and main race winner Thed Björk had a disastrous qualifying in Hungary, but hopes to make the most of his second row starting position for Race 1 to defend his second place in the standings.

“I am not happy with the balance of the car and we are going to work hard to adjust it for tomorrow,” said Björk. “Third on the grid for the first race is still good. I am going to fight hard as usual to get as much points as possible, consistency is the key and I am looking forward to the races tomorrow.”