Rob Huff: “We were involved in someone else’s accident”

LADA Sport Lukoil’s Rob Huff lost out on good opportunity to score points in Austria after he and team-mate James Thompson made a great start in the second race at the Salzburgring, but were taken out in a dramatic looking incident which also involved four-time champion Yvan Muller.

The 34-year-old Briton was running alongside Thompson down the inside into Turn 1, when Muller’s Citroën came back across after being run off onto the grass, edging Thompson over and into the side of Huff’s Lada Granta.

“It was a big hit,” said Huff to TouringCarTimes. “It was a shame, James and I made really good starts, I overtook two maybe three cars, we were both side-by-side, but from what I understand Yvan went off, came back on and had a bit of a wobble, and whether he then pinpalled into James and then me I’m not sure. I just got a hit in the rear-left, and then I was spinning on the straight, flew off and hit the barrier very hard, moved it by about a metre, and my rear-right rim is now about 12 inches away from where it should be.”

The two cars are heavily damaged, and with the team’s home race just two weeks away, the LADA Sport Lukoil team have a lot of work to do to be ready for Moscow.

“The poor guys have got a lot of work to do,” added Huff. “It’s a shame, at this track the only chance to get into the fight is at the start. Both of us did what Viktor (Shapovalov, team principal) employs us to do which is to do a proper job and make a really good start, and we both did, everyone else seemed to be half asleep, but unfortunately we got involved in someone elses accident and came off worse.

“The most important thing is James and I are both alright. The car might be overweight and heavy, but for sure it’s strong”