Rob Huff saving “special lap” for qualifying

Practice pace-setter Rob Huff is confident he can carry his strong Thursday form at Macau into Friday’s crucial World Touring Car Cup qualifying sessions, as the Briton bids to extend his unprecedented record of Guia Race victories.

Huff’s reputation as a Macau specialist was underpinned once again as he set a blistering pace in final WTCR practice on Thursday, leading the way from countryman Andy Priaulx at the famous street track.

Having already won nine races in Macau – more than any other driver in the history of the Asian event – Huff says he is pleased with where his SLR Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR is at heading into the high-pressure parts of the weekend.

“I’m happy for Max, my number one mechanic, I’m happy for the whole team,” Huff summed up his day. “We like it here, that’s no secret. We’re quite successful here, that’s no secret. But just getting a lap, getting no traffic… I got blocked on my first lap on new tyres and I set my time on the second [flying] lap when the tyres weren’t at their best.

“We really struggle in sector one with the aero and drag and we can see the Audis are ten kilometres quicker than us, the Lynk & Cos as well. It’s just a trait of the Golf but we more than make up for it in the next sectors. I made a mistake [at Mandarin] and lost three or four kilometres so it wasn’t a special Rob Huff lap – I’ll save that one for tomorrow.”

Heading into Friday, which features both WTCR qualifying sessions, Huff expects to remain firmly in contention for pole position.

“I’m very confident for tomorrow,” the Brit concluded. “I was really pleased where the car was, it was a big step up from this morning. The car felt good this morning, I always like to start with a confidence-inspiring car before we start putting the car on the edge, getting myself on the edge. The car was on the edge [in Free Practice 2], a bit more than I anticipated, I had a few moments but we’ll be bang on tomorrow.”