Rob Huff grabbed the headlines at Snetterton over the weekend as he charged to a sensational first Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship race win in two decades at his home circuit. “What an amazing result,” said Huff. “To win at my home track, 20 years on from the last time that I was here, was written in the stars wasn’t it?! For it to be a first-ever Toyota 1-2-3 in the BTCC too makes it that little bit more special as well.
“We’d had a bit of a rollercoaster day up until race three but with the soft tyre on I knew we could do something, as long as it stayed dry. The gaps at the front meant I genuinely didn’t know that I was leading. I was just picking them off one-by-one, but I didn’t quite know where we were.”
He added: “The car was fantastic and the feeling that I had in race three is what I’ve been searching for so far this year; we were dialled in! I’ve got say a huge thank you to everyone at Speedworks Motorsport and Toyota because they’ve been mega and deserve this result.
“It’s an absolutely incredible feeling to be back on the top step of the podium, hopefully this is the first of many more wins this year. I’m already looking forward to getting to Thruxton in a couple of weeks!”
The TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK driver was wheel-perfect in a thrilling finale at the Norfolk venue as he fought his way from 14th on the grid to claim a famous victory, leading home a first-ever Toyota 1-2-3 in the process.
Remarkably, Huff’s triumph represents the longest gap between wins for a single driver in BTCC history, with his last victory in the UK’s premier motorsport series having also come in race three at Snetterton back in 2004.
Born and raised Cambridge, the 44-year-old’s journey to the top step of the podium began on Saturday as he featured inside the top ten across two damp free practice sessions, before then narrowly missing out on the ‘Quick Six’ shootout.
Comfortably making it out of the opening segment of qualifying, Huff produced a number of impressive laps in the next section to clinch a spot on the fourth row of the grid for the first of Sunday’s three races.
Opting to run the Goodyear medium tyre in race one, the former FIA World Touring Car Championship title winner produced a measured drive in a frenetic opener to take the chequered flag in ninth place.
A huge storm battered the circuit prior to race two which led to a delay in proceedings as circuit staff worked to clear vast amounts of standing water. During the pause, the track basked in bright sunshine and with a dry line starting to appear on-track, tyre strategy became a hot topic.
Opting to roll the dice and gamble, Huff bolted on slick tyres in the hope that track conditions would come towards him as the race wore on and by mid-distance it looked like that may be the case.
Unfortunately, a second deluge of heavy rain hit the circuit and Huff was left scrambling for grip in the remaining laps. Staying out of trouble, he managed to bring his Toyota Corolla GR Sport across in the line in 14th – which is where he would start for race three.
Huff’s crowning glory came in a blockbuster finale as he underlined his talents behind the wheel with a superlative performance in a wet-to-dry bout, which ultimately gave Speedworks Motorsport a podium clean sweep.
Running the soft tyre, the BRDC Member carved his way up the order from 14th in little to no time and following a captivating battle with stablemates Josh Cook and Aiden Moffat over a number of laps, he soon set off after race leader Jake Hill who was on wets.
On the back of Hill’s BMW within a blink of an eye, Huff took the lead at Agostini and from that point on he never looked back as he pulled clear to taking a famous victory.
Next for the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship is a visit to the UK’s fastest circuit, Thruxton, on the 8-9 June.
