Honda’s Rob Huff says he is convinced that victory was possible in the main World Touring Car Championship race in Hungary, with a drive-through penalty scuppering the Brit’s chances of the win.
Huff was running in third when he attempted to pass the Citroën of Yvan Muller heading into turn two on the tenth lap.
Huff’s Honda Civic appeared to be faster than the leading Citroën duo at the time, and the Brit began to close in on race leader José María López.
However he was then handed a drive-through penalty for the move on Muller, which came with a slight piece of contact between the pair as Muller tried to defend his line and Huff sought to pass.
Although Huff was able to recover to salvage a sixth-place finish and score his first points of the day, he admits that the result doesn’t reflect his and Honda’s true pace at the Hungaroring circuit.
“I’m very pleased with the pace we’ve shown this weekend,” summarised Huff. “Wet or dry, we’ve been inside the top four on laptimes, and that’s even with the 70 kg of compensation weight, so it proves that the testing we did with ballast during the winter has paid off.
“We gambled on a mixed tyre set-up in the opening race and it didn’t quite work, although I was still the best-placed of the drivers not on full wets.
“I’m convinced we would have won race two had it not been for a drive-through penalty that I think was extremely harsh. I was faster than Yvan Muller and tried to overtake him at Turn 2. He swept right across my front and braked very hard and I couldn’t avoid touching him and pushing him wide.
“In my opinion, it was a racing incident. Without that, I’m sure we had the pace to catch and pass Pechito López for the win. Eight points does not at all reflect the speed we showed this weekend.”
Huff leaves Hungary in fourth overall in the drivers’ championship, 46 points adrift of new leader López.