Rob Huff was delighted to claim two pole positions in the FIA World Touring Car Cup (WTCR) in Macau, with the Sébastien Loeb Racing star ‘finishing the season on a high’ after dominating qualifying.
Huff was untouchable in both of Friday’s qualifying sessions, putting his Volkswagen Golf GTi on pole for both races one and three with laps that were easily faster than Münnich Motorsport’s Esteban Guerrieri.
In first qualifying Huff had 40 minutes to claim pole, but with interruptions in the session he admitted that there was some uncertainty as to whether he would be able to continue to go faster, in case his rivals improved.
In the end Huff claimed pole by almost half a second over the Honda of Guerrieri, taking his tally on the Circuito da Guia to eight poles.
“At one point I was a bit concerned that Esteban might have taken it from me,” said Huff of the first qualifying session. “We got a good lap on the first run and that sort of set the bar if you like early in qualifying.
“Then on my second run I was behind Yvan and got a much better lap, he towed me around so thank you.
“The third and fourth run was a red flag and a yellow flag, but on the fourth run especially we were quite a bit quicker and we felt we had a good time left in the car, it was just whether we had enough fuel and time to make that extra run. Of course, there was.
“In sector one I was completely on my own, so of course sector one was down and at that point most people thought the lap was over but the middle bit of Macau is where the time comes and I just managed to absolutely nail the second and last sector.
“Huge thanks to the team for giving me such a wonderful car. It was a joy to drive and I’m very happy.”
Huff admitted that he had felt under pressure to deliver pole in the final Q3 segment of the second qualifying session, having lost time in the first two sectors of the lap.
“For me this is the toughest track in the world, anyone who is sitting here who has done well and to survive the pressure of the one-lap qualifying system here, it’s intense.
“The lap times show we were all a bit off what we could potentially do. I just managed to survive. My engineer asked me if I wanted to know the lap times as people were doing them and of course I said yes.
“I knew the lap time that was currently pole was quite achievable but then the nerves and the pressure kicks in and you make a few mistakes, you take it a bit too easy in one sector and you have to push in the next as you saw.
“We clipped the wall and at that point it could have been over. But I’m just so pleased for my Sébastien Loeb Racing team, for Volkswagen, it’s just brilliant To come here to finish the season on a high – winning in Japan and coming here and getting two poles.
“Regardless of what happens in the races Macau is Macau, it’s a huge lottery. But to come here and have the speed that we’ve had is testament to the hard work of the team.”