Photo: WTCC Media

Rob Huff targeting podium on race day for Münnich

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Rob Huff was the most competitive of all of the SEAT drivers in qualifying today at the Hungaroring, qualifying in eighth place for the first race which puts his SEAT León WTCC third on the grid for race two.

The reigning champion’s run in Q1 was almost two-tenths of a second faster than his time in Q2, which scored him eighth position behind the two Chevrolets of Tom Chilton and James Nash and ahead of the BMW of Mehdi Bennani and Alex MacDowall’s Chevrolet.

Huff is happy with the progress he has been making race by race, but doesn’t believe there was anything more than one or two positions available for the SEAT to take at this circuit.

“I think at Slovakia we learned a lot about the car as it was the first weekend we got to fully focus on the set-up and the balance of the car rather than worry about whether the car’s working properly or not,” said Huff to TouringCarTimes. “We had no turbo problems like we had in Monza or Marrakech, and I think my engineer Joan Servia and I are really starting to understand each other very well. We both seem to want the same things from the car set-up wise which is good.”

Huff added:
“I’m free this year to really wring the neck of a race car, which is thoroughly enjoyable. Obviously in the past it’s sometimes been we’ve needed to slow down a bit…but it’s been a long while since I’ve had to drive like how I did in Slovakia.”

With a time of 1:54.380 in Q2, the Münnich Motorsport SEAT driver was the fastest SEAT in qualifying, with Tuenti Racing Team’s Pepe Oriola the next closest in 13th place, where the 19-year-old will start both of tomorrow’s races. Huff meanwhile will start eighth for race one and third for race two.

“I think a 1 minute 54 flat on an absolutely perfectly nailed lap would have been feasible, but nothing faster than that,” said Huff. “Of course if I had gone two tenths faster I would have been P5 or P6 and that means I would start fifth or sixth in race two, which is of no interest to us whatsoever in terms of scoring a podium. So that I’m P3 in race two, and Mehdi Bennani and Alex MacDowall on the front-row I think we can hopefully get a good result.”