Robert Huff – Life as a works touring car driver - 30/03/04

Going in to the 2004 BTCC season, Rob Huff is arguably the happiest driver in the paddock. Having won the inaugural Seat Cupra Championship last year, the 24 year old finds himself in the enviable position of being a works touring car driver for Seat Sport UK, with his teammate being none other than 2001 BTCC champion Jason Plato.

“It’s all a bit new to me”, commented Huff. “It’s just a case of sit back, see how it all works and then get stuck in and enjoy myself.”

“It’s awesome though. I would thoroughly recommend it to anybody! It has just been unreal. I’ve been treated so well. It’s just nice to be able to chill out, go to the gym and enjoy myself. You’re being paid to keep yourself fit. It’s been brilliant just to have no worries - you know you’ve got a salary for the year, and I’m doing what I enjoy doing the most. For the last six years or so, certainly at this time of year, it has been a case of going out to try and find sponsorship and working to pay the mortgage at the same time.”

“It’s certainly a case of having to pinch myself every now and then just to make sure it’s not all a dream!”

The BTCC media launch event at Donington Park gave Huff his first run behind the wheel of his brand new Seat Toledo. “We did a shakedown test in Spain which was literally four or five laps, but that was my first real go around a circuit that I know in my car. We really had no idea where we were going to be [compared to the BTCC spec cars]. We could be half a second off, three seconds off or we could be a second quicker.”

Last week saw Huff and Plato return to Spain for a 3-day test at the Albacete circuit, where the pair clocked up some 944 miles of running between them. Huff said: “It was a very productive test, we’re definitely going in the right direction and we had a trouble-free run. The car is very reliable and responsive to changes. I’m also very happy with how all the team moved forward and on a personal note it was good for me to try different camber, diff and ride-height settings.”

Albacete was the longest and final private test before the opening round of the BTCC at Thruxton on April 11, and included both technical set-up and race distance runs. Over the three days, Rob completed 534 miles and Jason did 410 miles. No further tests are planned until the SEAT Sport UK team cars go out onto the Thruxton circuit on April 8.

Having already competed with the Toledo in the European Touring Car Championship, Seat are not starting entirely from square one with the car, despite making such a late UK debut. In joining forces with renowned race car preparer Ray Mallock, the Spanish marque has clearly signalled its intent to mount a serious challenge on the series.

“Seat have a huge presence here”, said Huff. “We are getting a lot of publicity and I think I’m with the best team could possibly be with. It is just a huge opportunity for everybody involved. It seems to be making itself a very big project. My personal hopes are to be able to peg with JP. Obviously he’s my teammate and he’s got identical equipment to me, so that is my target if you like. Hopefully we will get to that sort of stage fairly early and then Jason and I can do our best to work together to push the car further up the grid and see where we are at.”

“Certainly for now it is just a case of getting my head around driving a touring car and get used to the whole touring car ‘bubble’. I will just get my head down and get on with what I’m being paid to do.”

Related links:
www.huffsport.com