Rob Huff might skip second race as he chases 11 wins record at Macau

Rob Huff has said he’s going to put it to his Sébastien Loeb Racing team to decide whether the risk is too great to start the reversed grid second race at Macau on Sunday from tenth, and potentially damage his Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR ahead of Race 3, and instead focus on just winning Race 1 and 3 from pole.

The “King of Macau” has secured pole positions for the first and third races of the weekend in Friday’s two qualifying sessions, and is now looking at the best strategy to further extend his victory record at the famous and challenging street circuit.

“After what happened last year with Norbi (Michelisz), I’m not even sure we’re going to start Race 2,” said Huff to TouringCarTimes. “He crashed in front of us and we got taken out because of it, and it was nothing to do with us.

“We want to make sure our car is perfect for Race 3, so I’ll ask the team and see what they want to do. If they want me to win two races this weekend, the safest thing to do is start from pole twice, and not start from tenth (in Race 2).

“In the Lada (in 2014), I let everyone past in Race 1 and concentrated on my third place on the grid for Race 2, and it paid off, but then we had only 18 cars.

“I think it’s worth having a discussion about, I think we’ve been very lucky so far this weekend in that we’ve had almost no red flags – if you asked me before the weekend, when we’re coming here with 31 cars and six wild cards, I’d have said we’d be lucky to get a lap in in practice. It’s been pretty smooth sailing, and if anything, it’s been the experienced guys who’ve crashed.”