LADA’s Rob Huff admits that finishing fifth in the opening World Touring Car Championship race at Circuit Paul Ricard in France ‘feels like a win’ after he equalled the marque’s best-ever result in the series.
Huff took the flag in fifth in race one, despite having started from 11th on the grid. The Brit got off to a superb start and was up to sixth by the end of the opening lap. Huff then battled hard with Hugo Valente in the Campos Racing Chevrolet during the race, before taking the flag in fifth.
The result is LADA’s best in the WTCC, equalling Mikhail Kozlovskiy’s result in the season-opening event in Marrakech and James Thompson’s result in Russia in 2013.
“This feels like a win,” admitted Huff. “I had to work hard to make that happen. It’s very frustrating but rewarding too when you have to push the equipment and yourself so hard to make it happen, but there was no way I was giving up easily today and I think I showed that to the Honda at the start!”
Huff is now feeling more optimistic ahead of the next round of the championship in Hungary, with the 2012 champion hoping to get more testing miles in to close the gap to his rivals.
“We pulled a great result out of the bag in race one, battled hard in race two and learnt a lot more about the LADA Granta Sport TC1 over the weekend,” added Huff.
“Hopefully, we can get some testing in before Hungary and find some more pace. I won at the Hungaroring in a SEAT against all odds last year, so anything is possible!”