Rob Huff admits to struggling with the language barrier at the Russian LADA Sport team, with the Brit managing only 13th fastest in WTCC qualifying, more than 3.5 seconds off the pace.
Huff started the weekend as the fastest LADA driver, achieving the sixth fastest time in Friday’s test session. Huff followed this up in first practice on Saturday morning, but his time was only good enough for 14th. An improvement for second practice saw Huff break into the top ten once again, posting the seventh quickest lap.
In qualifying Huff experienced a wheel problem leading to problematic vibration, which was further compounded by a fuel complication. When Huff was finally on a flying lap a red flag scuppered his chances of progressing into Q2, leaving him 13th and just one position shy of Q2.
2011 champion Huff admits that his problems are further exacerbated by a language barrier at the Russian LADA Sport Lukoil team.
“We’re suffering with the language barrier at the moment and I’m having to learn Russian quite quickly to solve issues and improve the car,” admitted Huff. “There was a really strong smell of fuel in the car due to a complication before qualifying and I had a huge vibration as soon as I left the garage, which prevented me from accelerating along the straights and pushing through the corners. It’s frustrating, but the team will pull the car apart once it’s out of parc ferme tonight and hopefully solve the problem.”
Despite the problems in qualifying, Huff is pleased with the car’s potential having previously posted more competitive times in the weekend. Huff will start both race one and two on Sunday from 13th on the grid.
“I start race one from 13th on the grid, but there’s a long way to go tomorrow. I managed some good laps in free practice and the 1m45s I did in FP2 was on old tyres – it was a good lap, but I wasn’t giving absolutely everything.
“What’s doubly frustrating is that the run on my second set of tyres was cut short by a red flag. I was about a second up on my best time and would have comfortably made it into the top ten, even with the vibration. So it’s frustrating because we definitely have a lot more pace in the car.”